


The Girl Who Was Orphaned

by Starryar



Series: The Girl Who Was Orphaned [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Canon Rewrite, Death Eaters, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Feels, Flashbacks, Fluff and Humor, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Hogwarts Third Year, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Morally Grey Draco Malfoy, Morally Grey Hermione Granger, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Slow Burn, Suicide Attempt, Updated Biweekly, mention of miscarriage, regular updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2020-11-28 01:25:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 369,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20958149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starryar/pseuds/Starryar
Summary: What if Hermione Granger became an orphan and the only family who could take her in was the Malfoys? Would she still be Gryffindor’s Princess or will she become the Lion that leads a pack of snakes? Will she hate the family of blood purists she is forced to live with or will she become the daughter they never had?This will start between the second and third year and will continue until a little after 7th year. (DRAMIONE main pairing/ Status: In progress- Slow Burn.)





	1. The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it (Unless disclosed otherwise)
> 
> I also have this story on FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13388558/1/The-Girl-Who-was-Orphaned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> First and foremost, I don't own anything related to Harry Potter.
> 
> The story is starting in the summer of year two to year three. The first couple chapters my be short but I will have longer chapters.
> 
> TWs in the story: Depression, Substance abuse, s*icide attempts, su*cidal ideation, child abuse. When any triggers come up in a chapter I will disclose it in the A/N, so please check them.
> 
> Please leave reviews! I don't know what's good or bad unless it's brought to my attention :)
> 
> Enjoy.

It was two weeks into the summer holiday and Harry had not heard from Hermione nor had he heard from Ron. Harry did know that Ron had made the effort to contact him through the phone a week ago due to him overhearing Ron screaming into the receiver Uncle Vernon had to his ear. Uncle Vernon immediately turned a plum color when realizing that the call was from a wizard and not only told Ron not to call back but made sure Harry paid for giving out the home phone number. Harry narrowed his eyes at the ceiling above him. He knew that Ron probably warned Hermione, who actually knew how to work a phone and would NOT scream into the receiver, not to call but he still expected at least an owl from either of them by now. Especially since he was able to let Hedwig out at night now so he could reply.

Harry started to wonder if he should send a letter first especially since Hermione did not have an owl to use, when a Great Grey Owl started tapping on his window. Harry noticed that he had seen plenty of these owls at Hogwarts and was a bit hesitant to open the letter once he had it off the owl's leg. It was way too early for the school's supply list to be sent out and was afraid that what ever was in the letter was not good. Immediately the owl flew off, once it was free of the letter, disappearing in the cloudy night sky. Harry looked down at the letter, curiosity out weighing his fear, and opened the letter. Harry was right to be concerned about the contents of the letter but never in a million years would have guessed what it had said:

_Dear Harry,_

_I am writing to you to inform you that Hermione has suffered something terrible while on holiday with her parents in France. While she is physically unharmed, she ended up witnessing the murder of both of her parents._

_For the time being she is in the care of the ministry until she is adopted by a wizarding family. I am informing you of this as Hermione will need time and is not expected to reach out to anyone for the time being._

_When she is ready, I do expect you and Ron to be the best friend's she has had for the past two years._

_Yours most sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore._

Immediately, Harry's heart went out to his friend. What many did not know about being an only child was that once your parents were gone, that was it. Unless your parents were close with your cousins who accepted you for who you were and not lock you in a cupboard, you were by yourself. Harry specifically remembered Hermione mentioning that her mom was an only child and her dad was the last surviving member on his side.

Harry reread the letter six more times before stopping and taking off his glasses.

Murdered. They were murdered. Harry had so many questions, questions he knew he would not be able to get answers to because the only person who would have answers is Hermione. Asking a survivor any questions about the attack was not just the worst thing to do but disgusting. It was one of the few things he hated more that the Dursleys and Professor Snape.

Harry barely noticed his face was wet with tears as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted more than anything to reach out to Hermione and let her know that he was not just there for her but understood her. Biting his lip he decided to listen to Dumbledore and give her time.

Wondering if there would be a funeral, Harry grabbed two fresh parchments, one for Dumbledore's reply and one for Ron. He knew that Dumbledore probably sent a similar letter to Ron but wanted to reiterate giving Hermione the time she needed.


	2. The New Malfoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: TW: Abuse Mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

If there was one word Lucius Malfoy would use to describe himself, it would be 'Malfoy.' Lucius Malfoy was a very proud, a very wealthy, very pureblood man who would strike down any wizard who dared to challenge him without batting an eyelash.

This is exactly how he ended up holding his wand at Cornelius Fudge's chest in his study at Malfoy Manor. The killing curse on the tip of his tongue. His only hesitation? Cornelius Fudge is the Minister of Magic and the repercussion were not something the Malfoy's could buy themselves out of. The murder of the Minister was actually the only thing they could not probably buy themselves out of now that Lucius thought about it.

"Lucius are you mad?! I am trying to help you!" The short man dropped his bowler hat and had his arms in the air, level to his shoulders. Lucius, being a former Death Eater, had easily disarmed and pinned him against his desk in seconds without muttering a single word. "Again!" He added. Fudge was furious about how humiliating this situation was and was partially glad he made the trip by himself, although he imagined Lucius would not have acted so violently if a body guard or two were present.

Lucius however was not just furious, he was livid. Lucius wanted to kill him as the Minister's 'offer of help' was insulting but he was forced to settle in reminding Fudge what the Malfoy name meant. "Help me? You came to me with this ludicrous 'offer' to _help me_?" He kept his voice level and low. The only thing more frightening than a screaming Death Eater who had you pinned was a calm and serene Death Eater who had you pinned. Something his wife's sister never realized, or perhaps she did not care. Lucius found that remaining calm helped with savoring the fear that the victim had, so he often took his time. "You want to bring a mudblood into my home to 'help me?'" He repeated again. "We might as well take the time to carve 'Blood-Traitor' into my skin over my evening tea."

Cornelius Fudge's eyes narrowed but only just a bit. He refused to completely cower before any other wizard, even with no way out of a possibly deadly situation, at least as long as he was the Minister of Magic. He took pride in his role and did everything he could to protect the title and the ministry itself. "Yes. And while I feel the same as you do with the Muggle borns, lets refrain from using slurs." He paused, assessing Lucius reaction, or lack thereof, while hoping he sounded anything but intimidated. He decided after a moment it was safe to continue. "This is to help the public image that I keep having to save for the Malfoys. I can only censor so much in _The Daily Prophet _before everyone realizes what I am doing.." Seeing Lucius narrow his eyes into slits, he decided to change tactics. "Listen, no other wizarding family wants her because she is a muggleborn or they can't take her because the _Department of Wizards and Families _says they don't qualify to be her guardian." He briefly thought to Molly Weasley (who might as well have apperated directly into his office) when Arthur had broke the news to her. The Weasleys could barely keep food on the table for their own kids and yet they wanted to take in another child. While he denied the Weasley's having custody of Hermione, he did make sure that Arthur had suddenly won the prize for the drawing the Ministry had. Their family needed the seven hundred galleons after all. "This is going to help keep the Malfoy name pristine- so long as keep your nose clean, of course and-"

"And keep the public's eye away from the bribing the Ministry takes part in along with distracting them from realizing about the Ministry's control on _The Daily Prophet_. This is more to save your neck than it is mine so do NOT come into my home and say other wise. I had made many donations to YOU, Minister Fudge, AND the Ministry in thanks every time you helped influenced a _positive light _to be shown on the Malfoy name as it does NOT in need _saving_\- as you like to put it." Lucius pressed the wand a bit farther into Fudge's chest- right between two ribs so it would be a most uncomfortable hurt. It caused Fudge to wince and Lucius could practically feel his eyes dilate from the pleasure the sight gave him. Lucius knew he could not kill him but vowed that he would one day make Fudge regret his decision.

"You would only have her in your home three months out of the year Lucius- two if you have her stay at Hogwarts for Easter and Christmas. All I am asking is that you help me, help you. The Malfoy name has left a bad taste in everyone's mouth since you came back from he-who-shall-not-be-named. It's nearly common knowledge that not many bought the Imperius story when you came back. Especially since there have been questionable decisions lately made on your part." Fudge moved back from Lucius wand so it was not pressing as hard and dared to narrow his eyes again. "Like threatening or black mailing the other eleven governors to suspend Dumbledore- this isn't solely to help the Ministry!" He quickly added when Lucius, quite literally snarled at the Minister, forgetting to keep his cool for a few seconds.

The two men stood still for a couple minutes. Lucius glaring at Fudge and Fudge nervously glancing between Lucius, Lucius' wand and the door. Completely disregarding that his own wand was in the office somewhere.

Lucius decided on how he would go about his revenge on Cornelius Fudge and was the first to move. It would be a slow plan but those were often the most rewarding anyway; it usually ended in the most suffering, which as far as Lucius was concerned, was the point of revenge. Lucius removed his wand from the Minister's chest and pocketed it. He then made a show of adjusting his cuff links while speaking, acting as if he never had his wand out at all. "You are absolutely positive there is nothing the Malfoy's can offer you to change your mind, Minister Fudge?" On the outside Lucius wore his neutral mask but on the inside he was smiling an evil grin: the first thing he had to do was lure the Minister into a false sense of security. And while Cornelius Fudge was the Minister of Magic, he was also a naive idiot when it came to his title, making him much easier to lure into said security.

As proof, the Minister immediately relaxed into a smug look believing he had won. "I'm afraid that this is indeed the best course of action. I am happy to see you understand." Fudge focused on fixing his clothing but still paid acute attention to Lucius in case he decided to get his wand out again.

Lucius did not respond but walked around his desk to sit in front of the mountains of parchment he was sorting through before Fudge's unannounced visit. "Is there anything else I can help you with then?" Not waiting for a response he summoned his only house elf, "Crewe, show the Minister out."

With a loud crack, Crewe had appeared in the room. He was a slightly younger house elf than Dobby and he had big black eyes instead of Dobby's green ones. He only had half of his right ear left and the other was wrapped in bandages. Being the only house elf in the Manor meant he was now the only elf to receive all the punishments. "Yes, sir." He bowed to the point that his long nose touched the ground.

"Get your bloody nose off my carpet." Lucius growled, reaching for a parchment weight to throw at the elf.

Crewe immediately straightened and started wobbling toward's the office doors. "Right this way Mr. Minister, Sir." Crewe wobbled faster and ducked, narrowly missing the weight that was thrown at him. Crewe then waited at the study's door for his Master's guest to pick up his wand and hat from the floor.

Fudge did not bat an eyelash at the behavior Lucius exhibited towards Crewe as he knew most house elves lived a similar life. They were a lesser species anyway. Pausing at the door, Minister Fudge looked back at Lucius who was pretending to read from the parchment in front of him, again acting as if no violence took place in the study at all. "The funeral and reading of the will is this Saturday. It would look best for you and your family to attend as that will be the day she will officially be in your guardianship. I won't have the press show up right away of course as that may look... planned."

Cornelius Fudge rushed out of the office door content he had the last word in what he wanted Lucius to do. He certainly did not expect to be threatened at wand point when he decided to go to the Manor but was happy with the results. Now all he needed to do was tell the muggle born where she would be going but he would probably have an intern deliver that news. Or perhaps he would have _The Department of Wizards and Families _send someone to do it as it is their department, he thought to himself. '_It's not like she is the boy who lived or anything_.' He chuckled out loud at his own joke.

When Crewe finally reached the front doors of the Manor, Narcissa Malfoy was waiting there. Her brunette and blonde hair pulled back at the top but still flowing freely behind her.

Cornelius Fudge gave a slight bow. "Madam." When he straightened up she did not reply and stared at him for a minute more. Once he started to feel uncomfortable again she decided to speak.

"Men who leave my husband's study smiling like you were are always one of three things: someone who is about to loose everything, stupid," She paused, pursing her lips and cocked her head to the side, allowing her eyes to shift from him to the hallway Fudge came out of. "Or both."

The Minister took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, thinking. When he decided on how to respond he let the breath go. "Well I must be the first man to come out as none of those things." He gave a soft chuckle that was returned with a purely devilish grin. His own smile faltered as he thought that she was not grinning at his joke but rather at him.

"Good luck, _Minister _Fudge." Her tone was mocking as she walked past him to Lucius' study.

He shook his head, not allowing himself to think of which Malfoy was the bigger menace, as Crewe lead him out of the Manor and to the edge of the Malfoy estate so he may disappearate.


	3. The Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)
> 
> TW: Depression, Su*cidal themes
> 
> A/N: Sorry my chapter's have been so short, I honestly plan on writing long ones but that may be more common once summer ends and they're back at Hogwarts. Please review :)
> 
> Also, I ended up splitting the day in two. The next chapter should be up sooner rather than later.

"Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley said gently, slightly bending in front of the the solemn nearly fourteen year old girl. Hermione was in a far away place in her mind. She was not thinking about the fact that the Weasleys, from Ginny to Percy, were all staring at her, as she had not responded to the several calls Molly had made out to her. She was not thinking about the wizarding family who had finally been revealed to her and how they would be attending today instead of Harry, as the Durley's refused to let him attend. Hermione was not thinking about the speech she would have to read today for her parent's funeral, a speech no one expected her to write so Fudge had one of his speech writers create one for her.

What she was thinking about was the day of her parent's deaths. Not when they were killed but the events before hand, she was convinced that there must have been something revealing what was going to happen that night. Something that she missed that made it all her fault.

Hermione jumped at the hand that touched her shoulder. She looked up to see her ministry appointed therapist looking down at her. Dr. Augsen was a young, tall and thin woman who wore cat eyed glasses that sat on her crooked nose. She wore her hair in a bun as tight as McGonagall's but had her sideburns in curls, Hermione had the impression Dr. Augsen had the habit of dressing older than her age. Hermione averted her eyes to the dewy grass, realizing she probably spaced out again when someone was trying to talk to her. "Sorry..." she whispered.

No one was sure how to respond as they were afraid of how Hermione may react to any reassurance. After a very pregnant pause, Molly Weasley spoke again: "Dearie, it's time to go." she held out an arm so Hermione could step into her embrace for side apparation. Grabbing on to Mrs. Weasley tightly, they apparated behind the marble building in the cemetery. It was a discrete place for them to appear as her parents were being buried in a muggle cemetery close to her childhood home and they could not apparate out in the open. Hermione thought about this, once again thinking about what the death of her parents meant but not fully feeling it. The depression was there, the hollowness was there but the anvil that was the realization of what it all meant was still waiting to crush her. She had not broken down at all since it happened and while she was not a therapist, she knew that it was not a proper reaction.

Finally, they reached her parent's final resting place. It was a small turn out- nearly half of the people making up the crowd was the Weasley's as they were such a big family. Headmaster Dumbledore and professor McGonagall were there along with Neville Longbottom and his grandmother. Hermione would have felt surprised but she had trouble feeling anything- she felt as if she was in another world and that her body was just going through the motions. They weren't close school friends but she knew Arthur Weasley must have thought to invite them as the only other person who worked on arranging the funeral was Dr. Dixon, the other dentist who worked at her parent's office. She was greatful that Mr. Weasley and stepped up to plan the funeral on her behalf, even if it was forced by the Minister of Magic, but like the speech she was sure no one expected her to arrange it anyway. Her parents wanted to be cremated with their ashes spread in Australia but the Minister refused Hermione's pleads for it and decided a funeral would raise less questions from the muggles when they never saw Hermione return to the neighborhood again. The plan was to have the muggles her parent's knew witness Hermione leave with her new family. She even noticed in the speech they arranged for her she was supposed to thank the Malfoy's for "their love and support in these trying times."

Hermione started to look over the rest of the crowd. The Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, was in attendance. She wanted to feel angry at him, for giving her to a family that nearly destroyed her best friend's family less than six months ago (was it really less than a year?) and for disrespecting her parents final wishes, but she could not even feel anger. Nor hate. She could only feel an emptiness that were surrounded by walls of numbness. There was something swirling beneath it all but it was a distant feeling that she had no energy to explore at the moment. Choosing to focus on anything but herself and the two mahogany caskets in front of everyone, she went back to looking at Fudge's attire; Instead of his usual white pinstripe suit, he wore a black pinstripe suit. She took note he had the decency of trading in his red tie, his purple shoes and the lime green bowler hat for the matching black counterparts. She was informed that the family she ended up with was not in his control (per the Ministy's therapist who informed her of this two nights ago) but Hermione thought that to be codswallop. He was the Minister. If it was not his choice or a choice that he could over rule, who is to blame?

Finishing her assessment of the crowd, the rest of which were the staff Dr. Dixon invited from the office, she realized they were not there. She did not want them there, per se, but if Cornelius Fudge had the decency to not look like a clown today, they could of had the decency to be the responsible adults she was entrusted to. She realized she spoke too soon though because once everyone started to take their seats and the priest was going to start speaking, the Malfoys had finally arrived.

Lucius Malfoy had his wife, Narcissa Malfoy, on his right (his hand possessively on her lower back) while Draco Malfoy walked on his left, his hands in his pants pocket. Even dressed in all black clothes they looked like they stepped out of a chic wizarding magazine- their cloaks even billowed elegantly in the gentle wind. Lucius' face was the cold, hard mask that he always wore when his face was not twisted in anger, Draco looked brooding and Narcissa scrunched up her nose as if the muggles at the funeral smelt like the rotten food at Nearly Headless Nick's 500th Death Day party last year. As if the idea of sitting in a crowd of muggles was too much for them, they stood in the behind the seated crowd although there were plenty of empty seats. Hermione found it interesting that although the Malfoys looked so alike and walked so close together, they hardly gave off the energy of a true family. It would have been a thought that made her sad if she was not burying her own today.

Their arrival was not something that Hermione alone noticed. "Is that your family, Hermione?" Dr. Dixon whispered. Hermione jumped in her seat when he spoke. Partially because he disrupted her thoughts, partially because she's been jumping at every little thing for the past week.

The priest from the neighborhood Catholic church was beginning to start his speech. "Yes. Very distant cousins, removed several times." She wanted her voice to found finite so he would stop talking about them but even to her own ears she sounded weak and disconnected.

He nodded, wanting to keep his interruption to the minimum. "Through the woman right? I can somewhat see some resemblance of Jean in her..." He trailed off, suddenly realizing how the weight of his words could impact Hermione, thinking that she would create a connection that would be a constant reminder of her lost mother in Narcissa.

Hermione felt her stomach sink and harden. Her mouth went dry and she hung her head as she felt a vice grip start to grow on it. Her hands went into fists that mangled the stems of the flowers she held.

The reaction she had was triggered by what he had said but only because it was a lie. For the first time since their deaths Hermione was wanting to scream; scream at Dr. Dixon that she was not related to Narcissa, scream at him for insulting her mother for making the comparison with such a vile woman, then scream at Fudge that she would rather be buried with her parents than live with the Malfoys. This was all so artificial and she was did not see how she was going to survive any of it. Her parent's were dead and she was not putting them to rest the way they would have wanted. Everything was so wrong and she was expected to accept it by all the wizards around her. Hermione was expected to live with the Malfoys, who she was sure would do nothing but constantly berate her for her pedigree. Hermione could not stop thinking that everything from the Priest to Cornelius Fudge, the Malfoy's, and to the deaths she witnessed was too much for her to handle.

The realization hit Hermione of how phony everything was with an adrenaline rush. She could not be there surrounded by everything that was fake when all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and mourn her parents. She was not an actor, she could barely even lie. She did not want to think about anything but how she would never be able to get advice from her mom about anything again or have a terrible but funny joke told by her dad when she needed it most. The walls of numbness that surrounded Hermione being were aching to give way to the literal flood gates she held in for a week. Hermione was whelmed and for the first time in her life she did not have a book to tell her what to do or how to handle what she was feeling. Only one of her best friends was there for her today and it was the one who was attending her parent's funeral with his own parents present. The one who would not understand her pain.

So Hermione ran.

She stood up, not caring that the priest who had never had her parents in his church was guiding everyone in prayer. Not caring that the muggles, her professors, her therapist, the Longbottoms, the Weasley's and the Malfoy's were shocked at her haste to lay the two yellow bouquets she brought on to the coffins in the middle of a prayer. Not caring that she was barely free of the crowd before she broke into full out sprint. Hermione did not even think to feel sorry for the graves she stepped on as she put everything she had into her legs, willing for them not to collapse under her as she raced her tears back to her parent's house four blocks away.

Hermione did not stop until she was at the door step of the Granger home. It was not a manor but it was comfortable for a family of three to live in given that two were dentists. Hermione kicked the 'Welcome' mat to the side and started to panic in her search for the spare key until she remembered that it was moved to the flower pot for their trip to France. Remembering this, her stomach started to sink farther as the panic attack started to take over. Her vision became watery and distorted as she stuck her hand into the dirt the pot held searching for the little silver key. When Hermione found it, she struggled getting the door open as she could not see the door knob through her tears and it took several tries before the key was in.

Once inside the home Hermione was hit with all the familiar scents she had grown up in all of her life. The tears flowed freely down her face as she walked into the living room, silently jerking from the intermittent sobs that she physically bit back but would release at any moment. She collapsed into her father's chair and grabbed the pillow that was in it, inhaling deeply. She held her breath, holding on to the familiar smells of his musky cologne that smelled somewhat like ginger and Myrrh. The pillow had not been washed in some time she noticed, due to the faint smell of Sulfur, given off by the lavender candles her mom had burned down to the wick had started to settle into the fabric. Crossing over to her mother's chair, she grabbed her pillow, inhaling her mom's scent which also smelled of her perfume- a cherry and jasmine scent.

These were scents she had not smelled in one week but felt like a life time to her. Hermione was tired and she knew that not so deep down, she was too young to feel this type of tired. Inhaling the smell of her parents in the only home she knew was what caused her to go from whemled to over-whelmed. The floodgates opened and Hermione broke. She felt like it took years for her to fall to the floor, giving in to the violent and loud sobs that choked her- making her hot and red in the face, when it really took seconds. She collapsed on to the floor, holding on to herself because she just knew that if she were to let go or move an inch her body would dismantle itself.

To Hermione Jean Granger, the world had ended. She would never see the only family she had again. She thought to herself, that this was it, she would not get back up from the floor and that she would come to her end too because the world could not exist anymore if her parents were gone.

So what she could not understand was why there seemed to be no end as she was crying in the fetal position on the living room floor. She doubted a grown adult could handle the pain that filled her so why had she not died? Why are the birds still singing? Why did she still see people walking down the streets as if the world was still in one peace? Why were there people still laughing, as if they had no cares in the world? How could the world keep moving on? Was the world not alerted that her parents were gone? A why had she not died with them? The last question caused her to sob even harder and sent her deeper into the panic attack.

Hermione cried herself senseless, in the middle of her parent's living room chairs on their living room floor, with no one but a cat with rectangle markings around her eyes as company. Professor McGonagall was able to follow Hermione in her animagus form easily once she had started to run off, creating the perfect distraction for McGonagall to shift. She was also unnoticed by Hermione herself, who was unable to stop the overflow of emotions, even if she wanted to. McGonagall did not disturb her but did make sure the front door was closed as she leaped on top of the mailbox in front of the Granger's home, waiting for Professor Dumbledore and the others to arrive.


	4. The Granger's home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Same day, second part :)
> 
> TW: Physical Abuse mention
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Upon hearing the news that his family was adopting Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy immediately felt a rush of emotions. The first emotion being disgust, as he was taught that her kind was to be considered filthier than filth itself, the second emotion being interest. The third was some hope. While Draco knew that Malfoy's did not have friends- "only allies" as his father liked to drill into him- he still felt lonely when he was not at Hogwarts. Draco had no intentions of being friends with any mudblood, top of the class or not, but it would be an _improvement_, he thought, to have company his age. The Malfoy Manor was huge but exploring the few areas his father allowed him to be in had grown boring as he already knew it all. Draco never outwardly showed anything but disgust for the news on Granger living with them, of course. He knew any other reaction would have earned him a "talk" in his father's study.

When Hermione ran off shortly after the funeral had started, he fought to keep his brooding expression on his face when he became confused. Funerals were for those mourning their loved ones so why was she running? He was not concerned, he told himself, he just did not understand. Evidently, no one else at the funeral understood either. The priest continued his prayer as if this was normal, which it probably was for him, while the other wizards murmured to themselves on what they should do. Old man Weasel had barely caught the younger Weasel and his sister, Weaslette, before they could run after Hermione. In the chaos, he did notice a familiar looking cat chase off after Hermione and after he saw McGonagall's seat was empty, his suspicion was confirmed. He found it easy to shake his confusion after that and risked a look at his father.

Lucius' nostril's were flaring. He was not furious, just mad. His father grumbled the whole week about the ministry bringing a mudblood into the Malfoy home, and now he somehow found a way to be personally insulted by the hurting girl who ran off. Draco did not say anything to his parents and waited for his father to make the first move. Draco learned things often went best for him when he waited for Lucius to make the first move, even when Lucius was not in a bad mood. Surprisingly, Lucius did not do anything until after the funeral was over. When the muggles started to dissipate, Lucius walked over to the Minister Fudge (who to Draco's surprise did not look like an Auguste clown for once) demanding an explanation. The Minister looked agitated himself but informed that they could only assume she ran back to her childhood home as it was not far from the cemetery.

The Malfoy's, Authur and Ron Weasley had followed Dumbledore, Fudge, and Dr. Augsen to the Granger home. Draco ignored Ron shooting him glares and looks as Lucius had warned him prior to the funeral he "expected Draco to be seen but not heard." When they finally reached the house he was surprised to see it was one of the nicer brick houses in the neighborhood. It even had a vine climbing up one side of it, flowers fully bloomed. It still seemed small to Draco as he has lived in a manor his whole life but it was not the shack he had originally imagined.

McGonagall hopped off of the mailbox and escorted them inside, where she was free to change back to her human form. Everyone could hear muffled crying from one of the other rooms and Dr. Augsen immediately walked off to find the source. "She has calmed down a lot over the past hour but I don't believe her to be in any condition to do anything else today. She needs to mourn." McGonagall directed her statement to Dumbledore even though it would be the Minister's decision. Perhaps she knew that Fudge often asked for Dumbledore's advice on matters, something that Lucius knew himself and found to be impertinent on multiple levels.

Dumbledore turned to the Minister but before he could say anything, Fudge spoke. "I think we should wait to see what Dr. Augsen has to say in regards to what Miss Granger may or may not be up to as she is the professional- no offense to you, Minerva." Fudge had taken off his bowler hat and took a few steps forward past McGonagall. He checked his pocket watch, "However, we have a little over an hour to get to the lawyer's office." The crowd of wizards took this as a cue that they were to make themselves a bit more comfortable as they would have to wait a bit.

Dumbledore, McGonagall and Fudge walked towards the stairs, heads together in conversation. The two Weasley's walked over to the right, towards the kitchen, where Draco clearly heard Ron ask his father why the Malfoy's had to be here. Remembering again of his own father's warning, Draco decided not to act now against Ron but to wait until they were back at Hogwarts to get back at the git. The Malfoy's walked over to the left side of the house where Draco noticed there was an entryway into what looked liked one of the drawing rooms in the Manor. The room was spacious and already occupied with Dr. Augsen and Hermione. Hermione was sitting up on the floor, one hand covered in dirt and the other hand holding an empty vial. Both hands were still shaking but she was silent as the tears continued to flow down her face.

The Malfoy's did not enter the room but stood to the side of the entryway outside of the room. Lucius decided it was best for his family not to interrupt. Draco stood, peering around the doorway watching Hermione. For the first time since he had known her, her hair was pulled back and out of her face. It was not in a stylish ponytail or anything pretty and it was still ridiculously bushy but he could see more of her features now; her skin was covered in red botches from all the crying she had done. Her eyelashes were long and dark from being wet, almost as most as dark as the dirt that got on her when she wiped at her tears. He could have stayed watching her if he had not felt pain shoot from the top of his toes as something was jammed into it.

"Ow!" turning around he saw that Lucius had stuck his foot with his cane.

"And what do you think you are staring at?" Lucius' eyes were narrowed watching his son, disapproval more than evident on his face. When Draco did not instantly reply he pressed harder on to the cane causing Draco to wince. He tried to get his foot free but was unable to.

Narcissa grabbed the cane and shoved it toward's Lucius. "Now is not the time." She spoke low through gritted teeth as she eyed her husband with a warning look. While Draco was scared of his father, knew to be absolutely terrified of his mother.

Before Lucius could answer though, the three heard footsteps and Dr. Augsen came out of the living room, pausing at the entryway. "Excuse me?" Dr. Augsen looked at the blond hair, sharp featured family with a neutral look on her face. Her blue eyes flicking between each of them as she studied them. "You are going to be the family to take care of Miss Granger, is that correct?" The woman also wore a blue suit that was so dark it almost passed for black. Draco dared to glance past her into the room she came out of to see brown eyes looking back at him. Her eyes were bloodshot but she had a slightly glassy look that was not related to the shiny look tears gave. He noticed her hands had stopped trembling.

"We are." Lucius gave his charming smile, one that he often gave to other business men and politicians. Draco had wondered what the consequences were if his father refused the Minister in taking Hermione in but did not realize how serious it may have been until he found his father smiling at the healer.

Looking back at the woman in front of him, Draco saw Dr. Augsen nod as they were joined by the Weasleys. Somehow, Ron went from red to a light shade of plum standing close to Draco and would have looked murderous if he wasn't a lanky, freckled face, child. Draco knew that him, and the rest of the family, hated the Malfoy's after Potter deduced Lucius had slipped Ginny Weasley the diary last summer. Mr. Weasley was better at remaining calm by simply ignoring Lucius existed.

"I gave her a bit of calming draught and in a few minutes we should be able to gather her meet with her parent's lawyers for the-"

"You gave a thirteen year old a _calming draught_?" Mr. Weasley had an incredulous look on his face.

Dr. Augsen eyebrows went up, not expecting her expertise to be questioned. At the sound of Mr. Weasley's raised voice, Fudge, Dumbledore and McGongall left the stairs to join them. "Why, yes I did. It's not uncommon for certain patients to be prescribed some."

Mr. Weasley literally sputtered and Draco had to bite down on his tongue so he wouldn't laugh at the ridiculous look. "But it's not recommended to be given to anyone under the age of seventeen since it's known to be strong and addicting." Dumbledore put a had on his shoulder as a warning but he had already offended the healer.

"I'm sure in the eight years of study Dr. Augsen did, four of which were dedicated to pediatric mental health,_ Arthur_," Fudge sent a disapproving look at the Weasley "that the affects of calming draught were taught to her." Arthur Weasley stared as his shoes in embarrassment at his boss chastising him but before he could mumble an apology, Hermione emerged out of the living room grabbing everyone's attention.

Ron, being his impulsive self, walked over threw his arms around her in a tight embrace. Hermione immediately squirmed and pushed him away. The calming draught helped calm her physically but her mind was still going a hundred miles per minute. While Ron was her best friend, the hug was suffocating and was more than she could handle at the moment.

Draco, watching the little scene smiled inwardly. He knew he'd be able to get back at Ron a little before they got to Hogwarts. When Hermione walked towards the adults, Draco removed a handkerchief from his cloak's breast pocket and extended it to her. She stared at the handkerchief for a moment, not sure how to react before taking it. "Thanks." Draco's inner smile grew as Ron grew red once again at the fact that Hermione had accepted Draco's act of kindness but not his.

Dr. Augsen turned to Hermione. "When we last met I had wanted to bring you here to collect somethings of your parent's, perhaps that should be done now?" When she had met with Hermione for the first time two days ago, she wanted Hermione to come to the Granger's home immediately and gather things to be sent to the Malfoy home. Hermione refused at the time, wanting to leave the home as is. She still felt that way now but knew that if she had not picked things to take, the ministry would pick random things for her.

Hermione chewed her bottom lip thinking. After a moment of thinking, she turned to the older Weasley. "Mr. Weasley can I talk to you in this room?" She asked while pointing to the living room.

Arthur nodded, followed Hermione into the room and out of earshot. Draco wanted to peer around the entry way again and try to listen in on the conversation but it would only draw attention from everyone present. Currently, Dr. Augsen was speaking with the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall listening intensely. Shortly after though, she reappeared with Mr. Weasley holding a stack of something Draco did not recognize. They looked to be large colorful squares and the one on top had two men on it labeled "Tears for Fears."

"There are a couple more things that I need from upstairs." She spoke quietly and to Mr. Weasley but Narcissa was the one to answer.

"Draco can help you collect your things and I'll banish them to your suite in the manor." Draco stiffened as she walked over to Mr. Weasley as she spoke. With a wave of her wand and an advanced incantation of the Depluso spell, the records disappeared. She turned to Hermione and smiled a sickly sweet smile. "The Ministry has already sent over what you had with you so I imagine you won't need much more?"

Draco and Hermione both stared at Narcissa but for different reasons. Hermione stared due to being addressed directly by the woman and it not being in a rude manner. Draco stared due to the command to help a mudblood was coming from his mother. Whatever parade the ministry had forced the older Malfoys to march in was not one Draco wanted to derail. He quickly recovered and started walking over to the stairs to follow Hermione, doing everything he could to hide how uncomfortable the situation made him.

When he was by her side, Hermione seemed to snap out of the stupor she was in. She glanced at Draco briefly but then made her way up the stairs and in-front of the first door on the left. Draco made sure to keep his hands close to him, not using the rails, to keep any contact with the muggle house to a minimum.

When he got to the top he saw that the door was wide open. Looking in, he saw her room had alternating walls of purple and light blue with intricate flowers painted on the blue wall her bed was against. His nose wrinkled at how stereotypically girly her room was. While it wasn't pink, it held all the other tell tale signs that a _normal_ girl lived there.

Before he could take a step inside to look around any further, she was in front of him again, holding books and picture frames. Draco noted her hands was shaking again and wondered if it was because she realized this was the last time she was going to be in this room for a long time- if she ever came back. "Are you really going to help me?" She didn't sound angry, just defeated. Draco felt his nose relax as he looked into her brown eyes again. The white had went from a violent crimson to a pale pink now. Her eyes still looked tortured but it still held that glassy look over it. If calming draught was as serious as his summer tutor had mentioned it to be, then Dr. Augsen knew what she was doing by giving Hermione enough for her to function on her own without melting into hysterics.

If the circumstances were different, Draco would've insulted her and walked away. However, considering how even his parents were being polite to someone they considered to be a some_thing_, he gave a terse nod and held out his arms to take the objects from her- careful not to touch her. He expected her to turn around and get more things but she closed the door and turned to walk further down the hall but hesitated when she saw Dr. Augsen waiting outside her parent's bedroom door.

Draco didn't even notice Dr. Augsen walk past and didn't believe that he could have missed the loud cracking noise of apparition so he was also surprised to see the healer standing there. "Minister Fudge said that we need to go soon and I volunteered to help." After a moment, she added "I'm sorry this is being rushed."

Draco, thinking that if her going into her own room caused her to pale and shake then he would rather use the excuse that he would bring Hermione's stuff to his mother instead of stick around. He quickly turned and tried not to rush down the stairs at the relief Dr. Augsen did not stop him when he made to leave. He paused midway on the stairs to focus on bringing up his bored face again, then continued down the stairs.

Dumbledore, McGonagall and the Weasley's were all saying their good byes to the Minister as he ushered them out. While they wanted to say good bye to Hermione, they knew that the Malfoys and Hermione were the only wizards who would be present for the reading of the will that they needed to go to. Draco walked over to Narcissa and Lucius where Narcissa quickly vanished Hermione's things to Malfoy Manor. Fudge joined them, pocket watch out and tapping his foot. Draco didn't understand what the rush was, they were all wizards and could apparate to the office, literally taking seconds.

As if reading his mind, Fudge put the watch away and looked to Narcissa. "As much as I feel sorry for the_ muggleborn, _you would think she would understand how time consuming traveling like a muggle is." He removed his hat and ran a hand over what was left of his hair.

Without thinking, Draco spoke and immediately regretted it when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Lucius' grip tightened on his cane. "We're traveling like muggles?" He nervously glanced at his father whose eyes were in slits again.

The Minister didn't seem to mind the question but he was tired of the day. "Partially- I had her fireplace connected to the floo system for the hour where we would be able to get to the Leaky Cauldron then head ten minutes into muggle London to get to the office."

Draco nodded his understanding, and refused to meet Lucius' eyes. Luckily, Hermione and Dr. Augsen were making their way down the stairs. Hermione looked blotchy in the cheeks again and she had fresh tear streaks on her cheeks. Dr. Augsen was holding two wooden boxes, similar to the size of his broomstick servicing kit, while Hermione was using all of her strength to carry a case down the stairs. Narcissa nudged Draco in the back, signaling for him to help but when he approached Hermione, she refused to hand over the cello.

Dr. Augsen spoke as Narcissa banished the boxes. "She would like to handle the cello herself, I offered earlier and she would not let me carry it." She glanced over to Hermione who finally was at the bottom of the stairs so she could use the wheels on the case.

Narcissa walked over to send the cello to Malfor Manor but Hermione stood between her and the instrument. "Not the cello."

"You're not really expecting to floo over to muggle London and walk the streets wheeling that thing, are you, Miss Granger?" It was the first time Lucius had ever spoken to her and she wished for it to be the last. Every word dripped with loathing and she was sure in different circumstances it would have made her skin crawl.

She sniffled and rubbed at her nose. "It belonged to my Father." The words made her tear up but she started to become frustrated, giving her a strength she had not had before.

Lucius didn't even blink. While he knew he needed to stay on the Minister's good side to see his plans through, he did not attempt to understand irrationality. "And we still have errands to run that do not require an instrument."

Hermione's cheeks grew even more red and her eyes watered- completely out of anger now. Narcissa cut off Hermione when she opened her mouth with a rebuttal. "How about I shrink it for you? If you don't trust me with banishing it that will at least that will allow you to keep it on your person." Narcissa showed no outward signs of being miffed but had no issues of being passive aggressive when she felt the need to be.

Hermione opened her mouth to object but stopped herself and thought if she really did have any other choice. Realizing she didn't and that a simple reducio had a lot less risk involved than banishing, she stepped to the side and allowed Narcissa to shrink the cello so it fit into her pocket.

"Now that that's taken care of," Fudge put his hat back on his head. "We should get going now." Fudge lead everyone to the fireplace where they flooed to Diagon Alley so the will would be read.


	5. The Boy who Disappeared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Su*cidal themes and slight substance abuse.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Two Weeks later.

For two weeks, Hermione Jean Granger had lived in Malfoy Manor. Or rather, in her junior suite at Malfoy Manor as she had yet to leave it once she had moved in. The suite was small as it only had one living quarter with a door leading into her bedroom. It was complete with a walk in closet and a bathroom with a large claw-foot tub. When Hermione first arrived to Malfoy Manor, she could not stop her eyes widening as she took everything in. The manor was grand and had the atmosphere of a haunted museum. While she felt like she had stepped into a home out of one her favorite titles,_ Pride and Prejudice _(adjectives that had also befit the three Malfoys perfectly), she could not help but have an uneasy feeling settle within her. It was one of the many reasons that she had not left her suite at the manor, despite how much she would have liked the distraction of exploring it and appreciating it's beauty.

Dr. Augsen came over twice a week from thirty to sixty minutes at a time. Over the past two weeks, she taught Hermione various breathing techniques, ways to recognize panic attacks and the importance of mindfulness. Hermione thought it was a bit of rubbish as most of her panic attacks came in the middle of the night, after having a nightmare about her parents, their deaths or the murderer himself. It wasn't something she was able to see coming as she would immediately wake up in the attack and it was impossible to stop but took in the information anyway.

Today, Dr. Augsen walked around Hermione's bedroom. Usually their sessions were held in the private living space in the suite but Dr. Augsen caught Hermione by surprise during Hermione's late lunch and entered the room. Hermione sat on her bed, looking forward as Dr. Augsen paused at Hermione's desk, letters and issues of _The Daily Prophet _were scattered across the top. The healer started to look through the stacks of letters, seeing a few names but 'Ronald Weasley' and 'Harry Potter' being the most repeated ones. There was only one Daily Prophet that was untied and it was an article by the infamous Rita Skeeter about the Malfoy's taking in Hermione Granger. The title read **Former Death Eater adopts **. It was a non-libel piece which was not usually Rita Skeeter's style. Dr. Augsen noticed Hermione even left the news papers on the escaped Sirius Black untouched and frowned. She looked at Hermione, fully taking in her state: her hair was in an even bigger, unruly mess than when she first saw her and her eyes had black bags beneath them. Every week she looked more and more thin, what little tan she had gained from France was gone now as she started to grow an almost sickly pale. Dr. Augsen also noticed that Hermione had a habit of wringing her hands constantly as she was always deep in her thoughts, haunted by what she had witnessed.

"You're isolating yourself." Dr. Augsen did not say it as a question but still looked to Hermione for a reaction. When she got nothing more than the eyes briefly glancing at her, she walked towards the girl and sat by her on her bed. "Hermione, isolating yourself from everyone is not going to help you get better. Your friends are worried about you." She paused, thinking to use a different tactic, one she almost never used on her patients. After interviewing those close to Hermione and watching her over a short time, she knew Hermione was not exactly ordinary and seemed to have a more mature outlook than those in her age group. She seemed to rely off of logic rather than her emotions although her parent's death may have changed that. Helping Hermione control those emotions were going to a task but the healer was determined Hermone would be able to manage. "If this continues, I won't be able to let you return to Hogwarts."

Finally she got a reaction out of Hermione, she stopped wringing her hands and looked at her therapist. "What?"

The therapist continued on watching Hermione's face as she spoke carefully. "We're going to try something different today." Dr. Augsen pulled the chair from Hermione's desk and put it in front of the bed, so they were facing each other. When seated, the therapist handed Hermione a vial of calming draught. "Drink half of this." Hermione did as she was told, nervousness creeping into the void she felt inside. The days were Hermione felt empty were always the better days as her emotions were not whelming her but she still drank the calming draught. The nervousness was quickly washed away as the calming draught kicked in, filling Hermione with a serene calm she only ever felt when drinking it. The draught made her feel like she was in a bubble where all the dangers of reality where on the outside where she was unable to be touched by it on the inside. It was a feeling she liked a lot she realized.

"I want you to tell me what happened the day of your parent's death."

Hermione looked up to Dr. Augsen's eyes. She felt like something was poking at her calming draught bubble, threatening to pop the it but the bubble held. "I don't want to talk about that."

Dr. Augsen smiled a smile of encouragement. "I'm sure but Hermione, I'm going to ask you to trust me when it comes to our sessions. I'm here to help you get better and help you enter society again. If I feel you're not well enough to go back to Hogwarts, you won't." Dr. Augsen leaned back into her chair, a neutral look on her face as she watched every expression and micro-expression cross on to Hermione's face. She first saw horror, then stress, fear, and then, finally, anger. Dr. Augsen saw this as a good thing as Hermione wasn't allowing completely stopping herself from mourning. She was not the shell she was when they first met at Hermione's week at the ministry following the death of her parent's. However, She didn't doubt that Hermione had become a bit of a recluse.

Hermione still had an angry look on her face when Dr. Augsen spoke again. She was stressed from what Dr. Augsen said but she didn't bubble over like she would have without the draught in her system. "I want you to use the breathing techniques I taught you when we first started doing our sessions. Try palm breathing first and when you're ready I would like for you to try your best in telling me what happened."

Hermione's anger grew and she fought for the bubble she imagined herself to be in to remain unpopped. "I find it better not to think about it." Her throat began to burn and she swallowed hard.

Dr. Augsen crossed her legs, her eyes never leaving the girl, summoning her clipboard and self writing quill to take notes on the session. "Do you find it easier? In my studies I've found that it's harder to build up those walls on such a traumatic experience. It's often found that the body is naturally wanting to process the trauma and the emotions coming with it." Hermione looked up at Dr. Augsen, listening. She was in immense emotional pain but the logic in her brain kept working at all times, always listening and processing. Sometimes that was the issue and why she enjoyed the doses of the draught Dr. Augsen supplied. It didn't stop the thoughts but did slow them down. "I can help you Hermione but you must cooperate. You're safe with me, you can trust me. And your friends." The doctor motioned to the desk with letters on the desk top.

While she knew Dr. Augsen was right saying that she had isolated herself, physically and emotionally, she was trying to avoid running into things that made her think about her parents. All of the stuff that she had brought from her parents house were in a corner of her walk-in closet, out of her sight. She also hated the idea of being outside because she -was- attacked outside. Hermione had chosen to try and isolate everything because she could not stand the pain of being constantly reminded of them more than her brain did already reminded her. She had taken up trying to finish the last essay she had to do before term started, but she planned on writing about the history of magic in France so it was a reminder of what she had lost also. Hermione could not look over the rest the work she had already finished as she could hardly focus on the words in front of her. She cried all day, sometimes without noticing, sometimes loudly and sometimes quietly.

When she left the Granger home she accepted what had happened was not a nightmare. Her parents were dead and not coming back. It made her even more angry and she wanted to do the same to the murderer who killed them but she knew he was also dead, the french muggle authorities shot him on sight. Witnessing three deaths in one night was not something any thirteen year old should go through. She knew that.

Dr. Augsen rummaged through her briefcase and pulled out a white envelope. "I spoke with your parents' lawyer after we sat through the reading of the will. I asked him if it was alright for him to supply a copy of the explanation on why they did not pass the business on to you." She placed the note on to Hermione's lap. "They loved you so much, Hermione. They would want you to keep you doing great things."

Hermione's anger dissipated and she breathed in through her nose. Tears started to flow down her face as she remembered her reaction hearing the words the first time, touched Dr. Augsen got a copy of their words. Opening the envelope, she read every word in the paragraph as if it were water and she was dying of thirst in a desert:

_We, William and Jean Granger, leave our ownership of Granger & Granger dentistry to Dr. Daniel Emil Dixon. Hermione, we know that we had always talked to you about owning the dentistry but after you started school, we knew that you were going to do something much more extraordinary than owning a dentist office. That was our dream we chased, not yours. You truly are our daughter and will do the greatest of things but only in something that would make you happy. It took your father and I long enough to realize this after your many tantrums on the extracurricular activities and lessons we tried to enroll you in that you were only going to do what you wanted. It was after you started term at your special boarding school we realized we would not want it any other want it any other way; You have always made us proud and will continue to do so. Love you always, Sunshine._

Her parents had always backed her because of what she had accomplished and achieved when they left her to her own devices. She knew she had to continue that as that was something they wanted for her. Hermione knew she had to fight through the loss, her pain, her longing to be with her parents again. It was all so crushing but if she had not died on the living room floor from her first panic attack then she knew she could survive many more. She would do it for them.

Sitting there for a moment, Dr. Augsen thought that taking the logical route with Hermione was a mistake, that she read the girl wrong. Hermione balled as she clutched the letter to her chest. Dr. Augsen started to think that the girl was putting up more walls and would not talk until Hermione raised her right palm, tracing the outline of it with her left index finger. Hermione breathed in her nose as best as she could when going up on each finger, held her breathe for a few seconds at the tip then exhaled going down her fingers. waited patiently while Hermione did this and eventually, she calmed down to the point her breathing was even. Hermione looked up at the healer, dark honey eyes meeting sapphire blue ones. Hermione had a shine to her eyes that gave Dr. Augsen hope she would be able to find out what happened.

Hermione decided to start at the beginning of the day and Dr. Augsen did not interrupt. Hermione took breaks to get her breathing back on track and focus on the calm swirling in her stomach. As her story progressed though, the longer they had to stop for Hermione to collect herself and practice breathing techniques. It wasn't easy for Hermione at all even though she was talking about the good parts of the day, like how her parents took her to Muśee du Louvre so they could see the famous art like the Mona Lisa. She talked about how they stopped at French bakeries through out the day for meals, her mom never stopping her rant on how beautiful the city of Paris was. She talked about her parents visiting the Notre Dame cathedral and how her mom teared up at being surrounded by the beauty of the church, her dad was even in awe at the detailing of the work in everything- relating it to the detail he personally paid into fixing people's teeth. His comments made Hermione laugh as he sounded a bit pompous saying it.

Then, Hermione stopped, her head dropping and her body shaking. It was the end of their scheduled time but Dr. Augsen was determined not to move, allowing Hermione to finish if she could manage. Hermione felt panic fill her and a vice grip close on her small chest. She felt scared, just as she had that night and she started to look around, looking for her parents in her room.

"Hermione." a woman's voice caused her to look forward again, seeing a woman in a suit. She looked familiar and but it wasn't Hermione's mom.

Hermione blinked a few times. "Dr. Augsen." The healer calling out to her stopped her from being fully enthralled into a flashback. She felt disoriented at how suddenly it came and felt as if the panic will take over again. "I don't think I can talk about it." Dr. Augsen nodded, her face neutral but she was both disappointed and excited at the progress made. She knew that Hermione had almost been thrown into a flashback and did not want to push her. She pulled out a small cube from her briefcase and handed it to Hermione. Each side had a different texture with one end having buttons to make a clicking sound. "Play with this a little and it will help you get your focus back." Hermione took the cube, studying each side. One side had spikes and she rubbed her thumb over it, focusing on the feel of it. Slowly the panic became manageable.

"Thank you." Hermione did mean it but not just for the cube. "For the letter also."

Dr. Augsen nodded again. "I'll see you Saturday then but I am going to assign you a bit of work. I would like for you to read your friend's letters, I think you'll find them helpful also in managing what you're going through. When I come back on Saturday, I would like for us to continue." Dr. Augsen looked over at the girl one more time for the day then made to leave her room.

"Dr. Augsen?" Hermione spoke softly but the healer turned around. The face she saw was a young one, filled with a tiredness not related to sleep. Her eyes were only slightly glassy as she only had half the dose of the already 'weak' dose of calming draught. "I trust you."

The healer gave a small smile. "Thank you., Hermione." And with that she left the room, and the suite to find the head of the house hold.

\---

Lucius drank deeply from the glass of Brandy he poured for himself, thinking back to the day of the funeral. The girl was bright- that much he knew although he would not admit it out loud. He wanted to intervene with the will, as muggle law said he had the power to do so, but he had been warned enough by Fudge he was to only home the girl and not harm a hair on her head, physically or not. If he was able to do what he wanted, he would have taken everything and sold it off. Not that he needed the money, it would have been done just to spite the girl and make her suffering worse. Instead, he allowed her to pick what would be done and offered no advice, whether she chose good or bad.

For an emotionally distraught thirteen year old, she did well. Draco had mentioned she was considered the 'Brightest Witch of the Age' by many of their peers but Lucius did not image she had any business sense. The late Grangers had given the rest of their business to the other muggle healer and Hermione looked distraught at first but the Grangers included their reasoning why. It was very sappy, saying they loved her, was proud of her and they wanted her to make her own choices, not do what they wanted her to do. It made Lucius extremely uncomfortable when it was being read out loud. He did love Draco but did not see the need in telling him as his father had not and Draco would be disowned if he did not take over the businesses Lucius invested in. When Hermione learned she was getting the house, two automobiles (something that made Lucius skin crawl when thinking about traveling in one), over 300,000 pounds (something he was sure transferred to a lot of galleons) and some stock, she decided to sell the stock and leave 100,000 pounds in an account where any property taxes could be directly removed from it till she became of age (in the muggle world.) The rest of the money she had the ministry remove and transfer into her Gringott's account. Hermione was not worried about the rest of the assets as the Ministry had already communicated to her an advanced stasis charm would be placed on it along with a Fidelis charm so no muggles would attempt to mess with the home and everything would stay as it was that day.

Lucius was grateful that the orphan holed herself in her suite and was not running a muck as the portraits of his ancestors reprimanded him enough about her living there. Purebloods had an affinity for sensing the blood purity in someone, something that transferred to their portraits apparently. He was unable to walk through his home in peace without at least hearing a murmur on how much of a disgrace he was. He did not try to reason as Malfoys didn't need to explain their actions to the dead- especially when it was only a fraction of the actual person the painting held. Lucius continued to think back two weeks, savoring the memories as fuel for the fire of revenge he planned to unleash on the Minister:

_From the second the four had walked into the home there was silence. The portraits stared at the four of them, mostly sneering, assuming Hermione Granger was another of Lucius' victims. When they saw him guiding her up the stairs and into one of the guest suites instead of the drawing room or the dungeon, they immediately erupted once the door had closed to her chambers, a coincidence as Malfoys held their tongue for no one._

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_"Is that a Mudblood? Why is that thing being treated as a guest?"_

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_"Why I would never-"_

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_"-IN THE HOUSE OF MALFOY?" That voice came from Brutus Malfoy who was posted near the main west wing hallway, the half of the manor Draco was not allowed in. He was completely standing up, his face red causing an odd contrast with his pale hair. The other Malfoys in his portrait nodding in agreement._

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_"LUCIUS!" Above the fireplace in the foyer (the only one that was connected to the floo network) a family portrait of a young Lucius, his mother and his father hung. The young Lucius looked away with his jaw twitching, his mother was weeping, and his father had the perfect duplicate of his father's actual look of disgust on his face. For the first time since his father's death, Lucius noticed that even the smallest shadows of his father's wrinkles were perfectly painted on the portrait. "How dare you call yourself a Malfoy? You are no son of mine." Abraxas Malfoy's portrait-self was even spitting. Lucius made a mental note to locate the artist if he was still alive and make sure he no longer found work._

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_Lucius would have felt hurt if he hadn't heard his actual father say that many times before. "Crewe." Lucius locked eyes with the portrait of his deceased father as the house elf popped into the foyer._

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_"Yes, Mas-" The House elf no longer had bandages on his one ear but did have scorch marks on his rags and legs._

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_"Remove this portrait and replace it with the one of Narcissa and I." Lucius looked over at his own son, looking him up and down. "Maybe one day you'll have made me proud enough to have a full family portrait over the fireplace." Lucius stalked off towards his study, not caring to see Draco shove off Narcissa's comforting hand as he stomped to his own bedroom chambers._

Lucius himself had hardly talked to his family since but that was normal. Draco was always kept busy on the other side of the manor and Narcissa did not bother him often. Taking another sip of his Brandy, Lucius laid back in his chair, closing his eyes, trying not to think about newly adopted daughter and instead how he would get revenge on Cornelius Fudge. When it finally hit him on how he may be able to get back at the Minister, he finished off his Brandy.

Malfoy Manor had two libraries. The main library where anyone in the manor had access to, and the Malfoy Archives that only Lucius had access to. The Archives held all books relating to or written by a Malfoy, including their personal journals. It just so happened that Abraxas Malfoy had also planned on resolving his personal issues with a Minister and Lucius wondered if it would be worth the trouble to face another portrait of Abraxas to get to the journals.

Lucius put the tips of his fingers together, deep in his own thoughts when he heard a knock on his study door. He vanished the glass into the main kitchen before getting up to open the door. Smoothing down his hair, he walked over to his study door and opened it, surprised that it was Hermione's healer and not his wife. "Dr. Augsen, is something the matter? I didn't think you would need to talk to me for Miss Granger's care." He wasn't exactly annoyed with the doctor but anything that had to do with Hermione was an inconvenience for him.

She looked at him, leveling his stare with her own. "Sometimes it's necessary I talk to the guardian's of my patients." She pushed the edge of glasses so it sat higher on her nose. "How often do you interact with Hermione?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow at the tall woman. He didn't have many inches over her and it made him work to seem intimidating as she was nearly as tall as him. "Are you a social worker?"

"Partially." She cocked her head to the side. "It's not often that the Ministry has to deal with orphans so why make two positions when you could have one?" Giving Lucius a small smile she slipped past him and into his study uninvited. She started to look around, assessing everything he had in the study.

Lucius gripped the door tighter, annoyed once again that a Ministry official thought they could do what they wanted and he could not do anything about it. "Was there something I could help you with Dr. Augsen?"

Dr. Augsen chose not to look at him and to watch his reflection through one of the vases. She didn't want to tip off that she was watching him. "I believe I asked how often you interact with Hermione." She let a bit of sharpness enter her voice to see how he would react.

Lucius continued to grow annoyed with the healer but reminded himself that she could report something as a stray hair on Hermione's head and have him arrested or fined. He put up a bored face and conjured an air of nonchalance. "I actually work long hours and am traveling often. I can honestly say I have not interacted with her since the day of the funeral."

Dr. Augsen nodded and turned around using both hands to grip the handle of the briefcase. "And Narcissa? Draco?" She was halfway through looking through the study, standing by his large African Black Wood desk.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen much of them either-I only see them at dinner." Lucius wanted to kick himself when he realized he said too much. _Damn brandy._

"Does Hermione eat dinner with your family?" Dr. Augsen turned back to looking over the study and catching Lucius' reflection in different shiny objects.

He wanted to pull out his wand and place a stinging hex on her but resisted the urge. "No. I believe Narcissa did invite her to have dinner with us as it's something even our guests will join us for when staying with us."

The healer finished rounding the study and slowly walked towards Lucius. "I see. I assume this invitation was only extended once." She stopped in front of Lucius. Allowing her casual tone to drop into a sharp one again. "I'm going to need you and Narcissa to make more of an effort in incorporating her into this..." Dr. Augsen let her nose twitch to get a rise out of Lucius before finishing her sentence "family. If I feel that she's being neglected it will be reported to the ministry."

Lucius eyes lit up at Dr. Augsen's threat. Lucius thought back to when the Minister was last in the study and wondered if the Malfoy name really had lost it's respect. No one would have dared disrespect him or his family fifteen years ago.

"Of course, if you're too _forceful _and make her regress even further, there will also be consequences." Dr. Augsen pushed her glasses up higher on her nose.

"Is it not _your_ job to help her?" Lucius voice had changed from bored to malicious, his grip on remaining cool headed slipping.

Dr. Augsen smiled, this time it was one that went from ear to ear. "Of course it is. But it's your job to make her feel as if she's a part of your family- The Minister was very clear on that."

Lucius felt bile rise in his throat. He was the Ministry's personal joke it seemed. Finally loosing his cool, he opened the door to his study. "Was that all you came to talk to me about?"

Dr. Augsen's smiled seemed to grow brighter. "Yes." She walked out of the study and glanced back at the head of house. "Have a good day Mr. Malfoy." She walked off when Lucius slammed the the door. Lucius stayed listening to the sound of her heels getting farther and farther away. When he could no longer hear them he focused on the wards of the house, keeping tabs on her presence until she was no longer on the property. The Manor's wards were made so that any Malfoy was able to sense the presence of others on the property, something Hermione would now be able to do he realized- even if she was not Malfoy by name (something both she and him adamantly refused when signing the documents for guardianship.) Living in the Manor for roughly forty years though, Lucius was able to map out the manor and sense exactly where anyone was- sometimes even pin pointing their identities if he was familiar enough with the person. If he really put the effort in to accessing the wards that is.

When she was gone, Lucius started to pour himself another Brandy deciding that he needed Abraxas Malfoy's journals. It was only after one sip though that he got an odd sensation at the small of his back. Focusing in on the wards again, he sensed several more people on the premises walking towards his front doors.

Hermione had taken mulling over today's session with Dr. Augsen, a welcome distraction from her usual thoughts.

While she was not ready to read what Ron and Harry had said, she wrote them each an apology about not getting back to them and that she was alive, although not exactly well. Her only issue was getting the letters to them as she did not own an owl. She wondered if the Malfoys owned another house elf after Harry freed Dobby last year. She knew her meals appeared and disappeared in her suite but never heard a door open or close. No matter which way she thought about it, it seemed her only option was to leave her suite as she was going to need to find _someone_ since she had only seen Dr. Augsen in the manor for the last two weeks.

She had bathed after Dr. Augsen left, taking her time for preparing the task before her. Goals and tasks were good, she knew this before and Dr. Augsen had encouraged them in their earlier sessions. Goals and tasks meant that she had a focus, something to distract her from _why_ she was at Malfoy manor.

Hermione was currently pacing back and forth in her suite, in front of the door that allowed her to enter the rest of the manor. She was internally arguing with herself as she anxiously played with the cube her therapist gave her, having something that was roughly textured was grounding for her and she grew fond of it already. A _very_ big part of her wanted to stay in her safe space. She felt the world on the outside was unsafe as she and her parents were attacked but at the same time _the Manor_ was not outside. The only ones who were there were the Malfoys. She took the cube and made circles into her palm with it. She knew the Malfoys would not do anything to hurt her as they would have a one way ticket to Azkaban but a part of her screamed that they wouldn't of had cared. She did her best to squish that part of her but thoughts of Ron and Harry explaining what happened while she was petrified in regards to the chamber of secrets flooded her head. Ginny, who was a first year, a child, a girl, a _pureblood _was put in dire situations because of Lucius. If a man like that had no care for someone so innocent that was 'one of his kind' what would he do to Hermione? Hermione paced even faster as she continued to think. If they wanted her dead she would already be dead. It's not like she had left her room at all and they _did_ feed her. She could have easily been ambushed or poisoned with no magic to defend herself.

Hermione then stopped in her tracks as she thought that just because she didn't have a wand didn't mean she couldn't defend herself. Guilt started to rise in her and she started to sob. She felt pathetic, small and useless. Thoughts circled in her head saying that her parent's blood was on her hands as she hadn't defended them that night. She sank to the floor, wishing she had more of the calming draught that Dr. Augsen had always brought with her, when she realized she did.

Hermione ran back into her room and looked though the comforters until her hand enclosed on the corked glass vial. She knew it was powerful and that she shouldn't drink the rest of it but she still wondered how much would be enough to get the same effect Dr. Augsen managed to get her. The half she drank earlier today had mostly subsided but she could feel a tiny bit of the effects and did not want to over do it.

Shoving aside her worries she decided to uncork the bottle and take a very small sip, gauging the effects. The effect she got was just enough for her to fall into the easy security the draught provided, releasing her of the survivor's guilt she felt and her earlier thoughts. Hermione put the vial on her desk and walked out into the suite again, the two scrolls of parchment in one hand and her cube in the other. She slowly took steps towards the door, ignoring how her anxiety grew with each step. She focused instead on the draught's effects. This time, it didn't seem so much as a bubble but a cat instead and her anxiety was a mouse. When she got to the door she took a deep breath, imagining that her anxiety was caught between the cat's claws, as her hand closed on the door knob. Releasing the breath she turned the knob and opened the door.

She stood there for a moment, her heart pounding in her chest as her fear rooted to the spot. She knew she stopped breathing and no matter what she did she couldn't force herself too. Her hands started to ball into fists, ruining the parchment she had in one hand but the sharp pain in her other hand directed her attention away from the fear long enough for her to remember the cube in her hand. Seeing the wooden cube she closed her eyes and willed herself to focus as she started to click the buttons on one side of the cube. The clicking was calming and she was able to crawl back into the calmness the draught brought her. Hermione thought again maybe she should drink more of the draught but after taking a step forward she found it easier to keep moving. She didn't turn around, not even to close the door behind her. She kept walking down the hallway she vaguely remembered being guided down when she first got to the manor and did not stop.

She found the stairs and tip toed as she descended them. Hermione felt a bit of an adrenaline rush at being out side of the suite but did not want to draw attention to herself just yet. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she allowed herself to take a bit of time walking around the foyer to appreciate the intricate wood detailing in the furniture and how the colors matched, not just the wallpaper but the decor perfectly. After the first few portraits, she decided not to look at them as they all either gave her a dirty look or turned their nose up and away from her.

When she reached the fireplace, Hermione felt a very odd sensation at the small of her back. The hair stood on end and the spot had cooled. It was similar to walking through a ghost at Hogwarts- something no one enjoyed. She turned around expecting to see a ghost poking at her back but saw nothing. It would have made sense for the Malfoys to have a ghost or two considering how old the family was but something just seemed... _off_ to her. She looked at the portraits who seemed to be glaring at her, hatred in their eyes. Some muttered to the others in their portrait's sending her glares, some fanned themselves furiously refusing to make eye contact and others just silently glared at her.

She made to ask them a question when she heard heavy footsteps coming towards the foyer. Hermione ducked behind a couch as Lucius Malfoy strode past her, wand at the ready, not noticing her as he was focused on getting to where he needed to be. She then heard a loud knocking coming from front door followed by a loud crack. Lucius had not yet reached the front door when she heard a voice that sounded meek but carried down the entrance hall and into the foyer where she stood.

"Master Malf-" The voice started.

"Open the door, Crewe."

Hermione knew it would have been smart for her to go back to her suite but she did not trust Lucius and wanted to know what had him so riled up that he was practically running for the front door.

Hermione crept down the hallway with her back to the wall, the small of her back growing slightly colder, until she knew she was hidden from anyone outside's line of sight while also remaining unnoticed by Lucius.

"My manor isn't the head quarters for the Ministry. State your business and leave." Lucius sounded vicious and Hermione wanted to flinch although she knew it wasn't directed at her. The situation she was in made her stomach churn from being so nervous. A part of her wanted to turn back but she stayed, determined to learn something about the oldest Malfoy.

"We're doing a wellness check." The voice was familiar and Hermione risked a step closer to hear better.

However when she took a step closer, a hand closed over her mouth. She leaned into the wall behind her, eyes wide, when she saw Draco Malfoy. His blond eyebrows were close together, wrinkling the space between them. He leaned close to her ear and used his other hand to grab her arm. "Let's go, he'll be upset to see you eavesdropping." He pulled at her but she refused to move, her stubbornness and dislike of Draco over ruling anything else she felt at that moment.

She turned her head away, freeing herself from his palm. "And he's OK with you eavesdropping?" Her eyebrows were raised out of habit when she delivered a sassy retort.

Draco let go of her arm and crossed his own across his chest. He opened his mouth to reply when Lucius spoke again.

"A wellness check? What for?" Lucius sounded exasperated and the familiar voice started to talk again when a voice she _actually _recognized spoke over it.

"Hermione sent me _this _letter! After two weeks of not hearing from her, this is what she replies with so I gave the letter to dad. That's why the aurors are here _Mr. Malfoy_." Ronald Weasley sounded like he was trying to imitate Draco when he was being a prat but was failing miserably.

Her stomach sank even lower. What did Ron do? Her anger swallowed any rational thought she had and she strode into view to see Mr. Weasley, Ron who was holding up what was presumably the letter she _supposedly _sent in front of Lucius, and three men clad in simple black suits- the Ministry's aurors. All six heads swiveled to look at her, all six surprised that the topic of the conversation would appear so suddenly. Her face burned as she refused to returns anyone's looks, snatching the folded parchment out of Ronald's hand and read.

The handwriting looked very similar to her own but was not as neat and there were spelling errors- something she never had- along with punctuation being terrible. She shook her head, completely in awe of how thick her best friend was- to the point he had the authorities involved.

"So." Lucius' voice was calm but she could hear a strain in his voice from attempting to speak calmly. His gaze was boring down at Hermione, the lightest of pinks on his cheeks. If she was not bright red in the face from her own anger she would have squirmed. "Did you write this _cry for help_? Am I refusing to feed you and keeping you in a dungeon? A dungeon," Lucius turned his glare to Arthur now. "that your many raids of my home last year Mr. Weasley- would have proved do not exist?"

"She did!" Ron spoke again but refused to meet anyone's gaze. She forgot her anger for a second as shock twisted her features. He expected to her to cover the mess he made.

"If there was a problem Dr. Augsen would have reported it!" Her anger came back full force and she directed it to Ron completely. He looked away from everyone after blanching. When he didn't turn back to say anything she looked at Mr. Weasley. "Were no tracking charms done to verify the validity of where this post actually came from Mr. Weasley?" It was then the older Weasley's turn to blush. She felt bad for pointing out how he had failed to properly verify the claim and opened her mouth to apologize but found his voice.

"Then why haven't you replied to me? Or Harry? We thought the worst! And now Harry has gone missing-"

"RON!" Bellowed Arthur Weasley but not over Hermione's shrilly "WHAT?"

The younger red head shifted his weight uncomfortably unsure of what to do next.

"What happened to Harry, Ron?!" She felt herself drop everything in her hands. Her body went completely cold as the many emotions she now felt regularly went rampant. She briefly thought she regretted not drinking more of the druaght. The constant mood swings she experienced through out the day was causing a toll on her, making her light headed. She couldn't handle another person in her life being taken from her.

"He ran away and no one can find him, 'Mione. Apparently he performed acci-"

But she didn't hear the rest as she fainted against the door.

\---

When Hermione came to, she was no longer in the entry hallway but in her bed. Narcissa was standing by the desk that was near her bed, draining a wet rag. Hermione had only opened her eyes Narcissa turned her head towards her. "How are you feeling?" 

Hermione felt deprived of any energy and any emotion. “Tired.” That’s always what it summed up to lately. Hermione felt a headache start to form. When she propped herself up so she could sit on the bed it made her sway from the pain being so tense.

Narcissa noticed and placed the wet rag to the side. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Hermione’s head.  
Instinct before reason kicked in and Hermione jumped out of her bed, out of the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. From the pain and light headedness she still felt she whirled around and started to fall again. Her brain screamed at her to brace for impact but her body did not respond, too drained of energy.

Suddenly she heard a snap, then the bedroom door open. The sound of heels came closer to her and when she saw that Narcissa’s waist was level to her eye sight she fully processed she never hit the floor after she tripped. She looked around and saw what looked like a three feet tall, beige mole rat wearing a burnt potato sac. It was missing an ear and had large black eyes. Faintly the connection clicked, Hermione had seen sketches of house elves in books she read before but was grateful they weren’t as mean looking in real life as they were in the books- though they were just as unpleasing to the eye. She knew their magic was strangely different and powerful. Ever since Harry talked about Dobby last year she wondered when she would have the chance to meet one.

“Your reflexes are excellent as always, Crewe.” Narcissa nodded at the house elf and he bowed in response. “I was going to try and heal your headache, Hermione. I did not mean to startle you”

Hermione’s eyes drifted from Crewe to Narcissa. She had her long slender fingers crossed over her stomach. For the first time she noticed that Narcissa’s eyes had a glint of amusement in them.

“Crewe, place her back on the bed.”

Hermione heard another faint snap as she closed her eyes. She wanted to groan but knew it would make her vertigo worse, possibly causing her to vomit. Before her stomach became upset though she felt her body sink into the cool sheets of her bed again.

“Where does it hurt? Draco said you didn’t hit your head on anything when you fell.” The amused glint in her eyes was gone and Hermione swore she saw worry instead but the flicker of emotion was gone as soon as it had came. The Malfoy's had a gift it seemed to be completely unreadable when they wanted to be. As she bent over Hermione, Narcissa took out her wand again, ready to perform magic on Hermione.

“It starts from my cheeks and radiates into the crown of my head.” At the mention of Draco, Hermione focused on trying to remember what happened exactly before she fell, but thinking seemed to made the pain worse.

“Tension headache.” Narcissa took her wand out of her dress pocket and held it over Hermione’s face. “Tensio dimittere.” Hermione wondered how she could also keep her regal air when tending to someone else. Instantly, Hermione felt the headache go away and the muscles in her face relax. Her face did start to grew warm in response and Narcissa passed the damp rag to her.

Hermione was utterly floored at Narcissa’s kindness. She took the rag and held it to one cheek before alternating it to the other. Narcissa started to summon different materials to Hermione’s desk as Hermione watched in awe. She knew nonverbal magic was difficult, most adult wizards still used verbal, yet Narcissa made it look so easy. It was a skill Hermione wanted to one day master.

Before long, Narcissa had a cauldron brewing that gave off an earthy scent. “Crewe, I’ll be having dinner here today with Hermione. Please inform Lucius for me.” Hermione looked at the blonde and brunette woman who was currently caring for her, still trying to process that maybe the family was not so bad. Narcissa brought Hermione's desk chair by the bed to she could sit next to her. Hermione finally remembered why she had fainted and opened her mouth to ask if Narcissa knew what happened to Harry but stopped when Narcissa turned to look at her. The look Narcissa gave had made her feel like she was in trouble.“I believe after your first night here you were invited to have dinner with us.”

Hermione, feeling better, pushed herself up on her elbows with the bit of strength the anti-headache spell returned to her. She nodded as Hermione placed the rag against her forehead. “Yes ma’am, you did invite me.”

Narcissa crossed her legs, then her hands on her lap. “Even our guests are obligated to have dinner with us when they stay with us. We understand you have been mourning but I expect you to start joining us before the week ends.”

Hermione’s stomach churned again but knew she could not refuse. “Yes, ma’am." It seemed like a trival thing anyway with Harry Missing.

Narcissa looked at the cauldron and waved her wand one so the ladle in the cauldron stirred the potion clockwise on it’s own. After roughly five minutes, Narcissa waved her wand again and the ladle pour the yellow liquid into a glass that drifted to Hermione. “Drink this.”

Hermione grabbed the glass and sniffed. If she was only allowed to use one word to describe the smell it would be healthy. “May I ask what this is?”

The corner’s of Narcissa’s mouth curled upward slightly. “It’s an old family recipe. It should give you back some of the vitamins and nutrients your body is missing along with building an appetite."

“I see.” Hermione took a deep breath then drank the liquid in one go. A wave of warmth spread through her again but it didn’t stop at her face and went through her whole body. Slowly she started to feel like she had some substance to her and she didn’t feel so light headed or sick. As she took note of how her body responded to the potion and started to summon her courage before her worry would take over. "I assume the Weasley's are no longer present?” She didn't meet Narcissa's eyes and placed the rag on her forehead so she could not see most of what was in front of her.

“Draco saw you faint then came to get me as I am our Healer. Lucius chased off the Weasley’s and those troublesome aurors.” Narcissa let a small shudder run through her for emphasis. Hermione wanted to ask why she thought aurors were troublesome but knew that it was probably due to the manor being raided several times in the last year by Mr. Weasley. Hermione realized again the scene Ron had caused and started to grow angry. "Did they happen to mention anything about Harry before leaving?" Her chest burned with anger and her stomach churned. Hermione removed the cloth from her face to watch Narcissa's reaction.

"No but I am sure the Ministry has shut down all of their offices to look for him." The tone was dismissive and Hermione understood it was a queue to talk about it no further.

Before the silence became awkward, the door opened and Crewe arrived with their dinner and Narcissa conjured a small table for them to share as they ate.

Hermione’s plate was piled with quinoa, corn, and grilled fish. Her stomach growled for the first time in weeks as it smelled absolutely amazing.

“I’m going to need you eat all of your food. You’ve been neglecting your body which is part of why you fainted earlier.” She did not needed to be told twice and struggled to not shovel the food into her mouth as she was sure Narcissa would be personally offended.

Narcissa finished her meal before Hermione did and started to vanished what she had summoned to Hermione's desk. “I’m going to brew more of the potion. It’ll help you build an appetite as we usually have five course meals.” When she vanished Hermione's clean plate, she grabbed the calming draught from the top of the desk and carefully looked at it. “Dr. Augsen didn’t mention to me earlier she left you with calming draught.”

Hermione felt something click in her head. She was able to put two and two together and chastised herself for thinking that there wasn’t an alternative motive to Narcissa being here. “She left it.” She felt slightly miffed and was unsure why. Probably because her first full filling human contact that was not by her healer was ordered by her healer.

Narcissa looked at the girl, understanding of the calming draught sinking in as she stared at Hermione. “I see. I’ll keep this then and if you feel you need it, you can come find me.”

Hermione was taken aback completely but another part of her was happy. “You’re not going to return it to her?”

The older woman smiled at Hermione, it wasn’t a warm smile but it wasn’t a cold one either. Hermione found it frustrating that no matter how of an astute observer she was she could never figure out what the Malfoys were thinking or feeling. “No, Hermione. Enough questions as you should work on going to bed. Your body has been through a lot. And tomorrow,” Narcissa nodded to the desk that was half covered with unopened letters and The Daily Prophet I expect you to start work through that.”

Hermione knew the letters were something Dr. Augsen had mentioned to her also. Dr. Augsen definitely talked to Narcissa but when Hermione said she would trust her she did mean it. Hermione nodded, and pulled her comforter over her, not bothering to change out of her sundress.

Hermione didn’t think falling asleep was possible but as Narcissa had pointed out, her body disagreed with her and pulled into a sleep so deep, not even a nightmare disturbed it nor Hedwig tapping at her window disturbed it.


	6. The Gardens and the Maze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Depression, PTSD, Self harm mention, physical abuse mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"How was she after she fainted yesterday?" Lucius Malfoy was allowing himself to be dressed for the day by Crewe as Narcissa slipped on a silk dress. Narcissa never bothered to be dressed by a house elf, even when the Malfoys had more than one. Lucius didn't care for Hermione past how the adoption would benefit him, so he tasked Narcissa with keeping an eye on her after Dr. Augsen had spoken to him. Or at least he meant to as Narcissa was already ahead of him since she had ran into Dr. Augsen before the healer had found Lucius in his study. By the time he made it back to the bedroom, Narcissa had already took it upon herself to start looking after Hermione more closely.

"Pathetic of course. I had to brew her one of the old Black potions before Dr. Augsen got the idea to report she was malnourished." The female Malfoy smoothed down the front of her dress. "When my parents died I was not even half the mess she was. It's like she wants to drive herself crazy by locking herself away. I don't think she's opened one letter- let alone replied to one." Narcissa frowned into her shoes before slipping them on to her feet. "I have to admit that Weasley boy was a bit creative coming up with the idea to report a fake letter."

"Some say you learn to be creative when you have little to live off of." If Lucius was anything short of an aristocrat he would have snorted at his own joke. "You were not that much of a mess because but your parents weren't_ muggles_, Narcissa. You were raised to be the elite by the elite, the Blacks were a strong family- and you are the perfect product of that. It's why I took you as my wife." He waved Crewe off of the last remaining buttons of his shirt so he could sit next to Narcissa on their bed. He kissed her shoulder. "She's a thorn in our side for the moment but there's only three weeks left of the summer holiday if nothing happens to her before then."

"This whole predicament is nothing short of embarrassing, Lucius. We can't do anything about her and you know it so don't act like we'll do something to her. The Ministry knows it, our neighbors know it, the whole wizarding world knows it! Have you found a way to get Fudge out of office? Or rectify this at all?" Her voice would have seemed nagging to others but Lucius, being married to the former Black for years, knew better. Her question was a challenge for him to find a solution before she felt the need to get involved. Lucius Malfoy knew that while he was the head of the family, she was the neck that turned the Malfoys any which way she wanted them to go.

"I'm working on it." His voice was cold and low as he stood up to pick up the two envelopes from his night stand to hand them to her. "These came in earlier in the week. Will you be signing her permission slip to go to Hogsmeade?" He thought about how miserable it would be for Hermione to have to stay at Hogwarts while her friends went out. He knew she may have wanted to lock herself in now but eventually she would want to wander. He figured Narcissa could say that they thought it was for her health she stayed sheltered a year or two just to make her that more miserable. It would have been something small to humiliate the girl but Lucius did not mind taking small wins for now.

Narcissa took them from him, already opening Draco's. "No, I plan on treating her publicly like an out cast so it would be made obvious to everyone that what _The Daily Prophet _keeps printing is a bunch of lies created to cover something bigger up- like my dear cousin breaking out of Azkaban." She turned to look at him then. "I hear Fudge has reserved a family cell for us next to his. I can not _wait _to be able to catch up with him once he's caught because you wanted to be petty with her permission slip."

Lucius' nostrils flared. "How long are you going to blame me for this?"

"How long until she turns seventeen? Or rather eighteen because of the stupid muggle Ministry not recognizing an adult for another year? No one told you to put yourself into multiple positions where Fudge was able to blackmail us and dump her here! As far as I am concerned, you played just as big a part in this as Fudge did."

"You can't stay mad at me until that filth becomes of age, Narcissa." He found her attitude and sass to be aggravating. Usually he enjoyed it as it was not often directed at him. He buttoned up the last few buttons of his shirt himself and started to look for his wand and tie. When he found them, Narcissa accioed his tie from his hand and walked up to him so she could tie it on for him. When tightening it, she made sure she tightened it too much so it choked him. "No but I could kill you before then." She was sweetly grinning at him as he tried to pull away but she held him there for a few seconds before deciding to let him go.

He stumbled backwards, trying to loosening his tie. When he was finally able to loosen it she started to laugh watching him recover from the knot she made. "You play too much, Narcissa." He would never admit it to anyone, not even his wife who was his only confidant in every way, but he was intimidated by her. Lucius had witnessed her do many things that a proper woman would have never been expected to do, not even from a Death Eater. He was not confident she was only messing with him so he did not stay to find out. He grabbed his wand and headed down to the Malfoy Archives before his wife could get in a reply or kill him.

\---

Hermione woke with a start in the early afternoon due to an intense rapping sound on her window. She jumped with a start to find it was Hedwig, looking completely ruffled and upset at being ignored half of the night and morning. Hermione knew that her body was sleep deprived but never imagined would sleep past noon without any nightmares. When Hedwig rapped on the glass again, Hermione's heart practically leapt out of her chest as she noticed the bird had a letter attached to her leg. If Hedwig had a letter from Harry then she would know he was OK. Once she opened the window though, the owl dodged her hands and circled the room's ceiling. Hedwig squawked loudly as she flew, refusing to land for Hermione to read the letter until she was done telling Hermione how she felt. Hermione tried apologizing to the bird but every time she started to speak Hedwig would screech even louder.

Finally, Hedwig landed and remained quiet but nipped at Hermione several times for good measure as the letter was being untied. Once the letter was free, Hermione looked the bird in the eye. "I'm sorry, Hedwig." Hedwig chirped once and looked away from the girl. Hermione offered Hedwig a piece of ham from the lunch Crewe brought in while she was sleeping and the owl happily ate it, seeming as if that was the form of apology she really wanted. Hermione's heart was beating fast as she opened the letter.

_'Dear Hermione,___

_ __ _

_ __ _

_Mr. Weasley told me about what Ron had done and asked me to send you a letter explaining that I am alright. I'm sorry that Ron's a complete git but please don't be too harsh on him, I think Mrs. Weasley has already gotten him for you and Mr. Weasley. I had ran away after performing accidental magic on my uncle's sister and that's why everyone thought I was missing, I'll give details in person. Hopefully you'll be able to do your school shopping in the last week of summer, Ron will be back from Egypt then, so we can get his supplies together. I'm currently staying at The Leaky Couldron until term starts so even if you come early, we can meet up._

_I know how hard this all is so I understand if you don't reply. I hope you do though. Please keep yourself safe as we all know the Malfoy's are never up to any good."_

_Love, Harry.'_

Hermione let out a breath she had not noticed she had been holding and leaned back on to her bed. Her anxiety had made her start to think the worst but the negative thoughts dissipated as she reread Harry's letter. She made a mental note to read Ron's letters to figure out why he was in Egypt once she replied to Harry. She felt such an intense relief that she had to focus on her breathing so she would calm back down. Hermione hated how temperamental her emotions became; everything either exploded at once or weighed her down. The worst was when it was both- That's when she felt overwhelmed and started to loose her grip on her stability.

When she felt calm enough she stood and started to search for parchment, ink, and a quill. In the back of her head she cursed herself for not bringing pens as they were much more convenient. Before tying the ribbon to Hedwig for her to deliver her reply to Harry, Hermione remembered his birthday had already passed but she never sent him his gift. She scribbled a quick belated birthday wish at the bottom of the letter then made her way to the closet to get the Broom Servicing Kit she ordered for him. However, when Hermione took one step inside the closest she remembered what else the kit was stored with.

The kit was with the other stuff she took from her parent's house. She would have to go through the records and the pictures piled on top of the kit before she could send it off with Hedwig. Hermione felt an intense dread fill her, one that ached from her bones and spread throughout her body. "Why?" Her eyes watered as she sunk to the floor, talking to no one, but it felt right to just speak out loud. "Why did they have to die?" She allowed herself to sob and wondered if this was her new normal, having breakdowns everyday. The question of why repeated it's self in her head but she forced herself to push past the pictures and the records, not looking at each one closely to avoid crying harder. If she could not handle seeing their things she did not know how she was expected to talk about their deaths like Dr. Augsen wanted. Hermione knew she should have rushed to return to Hedwig but the few things she had hid in there had anchored her to the closet. She decided to thumb through the records she had picked out. The vinyls she picked out were either her favorites, her parent's favorites or ones that held significant memories to them. She made sure not to get her tears on the covers so the ink would not get ruined. She knew she could not bear to look at the pictures so she placed them carefully on the floor, face down, and moved on to the cello.

Her parents were on the shorter side of Average so her dad did not have a regular 4/4 cello but a 3/4 cello. It was easier for her to play once her dad started to give her lessons as she had already proved to be on the short side herself. She opened the case and thumbed the strings softly and the sound made a lighter feeling stir within her. The wood was a rich chocolate color that would shine a lighter brown as it was made of Seasoned European Spruce and Maple. It was a beautiful instrument made by the brand Knilling, a brand her father had always liked. It wasn't his first cello but it was his favorite. She went to stroke a finger across the strings again, wanting to do something with her shaking hands as she thought about her father but heard the door to the bedroom click open.

She grabbed the broom cleaning kit and quickly closed the cello case, then the closest door once she exited. She expected to see Narcissa there but instead she saw Crewe. His one ear dipped low seeing the tears on her face and he had a thick white envelope in his hand. As Hermione got closer she could see that the envelope had been opened already. "Hello. Crewe, is it?" She quickly attached the kit and letter to Hedwig who nipped at Hermione- lovingly this time- before flying off. Hermione wiped at her eyes again before fully turning to face Crewe.

Looking at the House Elf, she noticed that he looked nervous and was shaking. "Is the Miss upset with Crewe? Crew only came to deliver letter, Crewe did not mean to interrupt!" Crewe started to bang his fists on his head. "Please forgive Crewe!"

"No! Crewe! Stop! You did not upset me or interrupt me!" She put her hands over her mouth as he stopped banging his head. "Why did you do that?" She was brought out of her own emotions completely at the house elf's behavior.

Crewe rubbed the front of his head as a small knot began to form, not meeting Hermione's gaze. "Crewe must punish himself if he is to offend one of his Masters."

"I'm not your Master, Crewe. No one should be punished for simply offending someone else- which you did not do!" She looked over his state as she added the last part of her sentence seeing his eyes widen. She fully took in his missing ear and burnt body. "Are the others hurting you?"

Crewe started to wring the wrist of the hand that was holding the letter, growing nervous. He felt guilty talking about it. "Only one. The mistress is polite and the young master helps Crewe heal- but Crewe does not complain! Crewe is happy!"

Hermione blinked, not expecting to hear that answer at all. "Oh, I see..." She expected to hear they all did terrible things as until last night none of them hardly ever given her a reason to assume other wise. Lucius almost indirectly killed Ginny with Draco cheering the Basilisk on all year. Narcissa sat and let it all happen, as far as Hermione knew, and Hermione found no bystanders to be innocent.

Crewe's ear perked up at the opportunity to change the subject, extending the opened letter forward. "Mistress said this is for you." Hermione took the letter, her eyebrows together in confusion as to why Narcissa would have opened a letter addressed to her. After thumbing through some of the parchments she found a permission slip signed by Narcissa for Hermione to visit Hogsmeade.

"Of course." She said softly to herself. She read in _Hogwarts a History_ that third years were able to visit Hogsmeade on select weekends. Hermione went to stuff the parchments back into the envelope but decided to take a look at the supplies she needed. She grew confused as she remembered signing up for all courses a third year could take but still only saw supplies for seven classes. Hermione threw the envelope on her desk and looked through the letters on her desk for the one she remembered seeing from Dumbledore. She ripped open the paper, scanning past his condolences until she finally found what she was looking for:

_With what has happened, I will be withdrawing you from three courses as I had noticed you signed up for ten this up coming year. With a loss as devastating as one you had suffered, I can not allow not one of my students to overwhelm themselves in classes._

Hermione felt her face grow hot with anger. She knew she should have read the letters sooner but she found the pile to be intimidating and had no clue where to start. Forcing herself to breathe she fully read his letter from the top all the way to the bottom of the parchment. Dumbledore did not ask her to talk to him and confirm if she ways alright with his decision, he did not ask her to understand- he just decided it was to be done. Throwing that letter on the floor, she read the one McGonagall sent to see if she wrote about Dumbledore's decision but there was no mention of her classes. Hermione let out a shill cry as she threw the letter at the desk and made to knock over the chair in her anger but after she felt a weird, warm, crackle in her palm, it ended up falling into tiny wooden blocks once her hand made contact with it. Her anger grew even more since she was unable to get the satisfaction of hitting or throwing something.

When trying to distract herself from her parents, her anxiety, her self deprecating thoughts, she imagined herself back at Hogwarts. It was always her home away from home for the past two years and ever since she found she would be living with the Malfoy's she thought of it as her true escape from the Manor. She _wanted_ to take all of the courses at Hogwarts because she found them to be interesting, something she could easily read hundreds of books on but now she _needed_ to take them. When Hermione was able to think about her parents (and not their deaths), she thought of how they loved her and she needed to make her parents proud. She needed to be the best at the one thing they supported her through even though it was a world they did not understand. She felt her body shake from her over whelming anger at Dumbledore. Hermione thought very highly of Dumbledore but would not tolerate anyone to make a decision for her on something so important. "Crewe, where I can find an owl?"

His ear had dropped again as he did not know of what to make of her anger and accidental magic, as he was afraid she would direct it at him next. "Yes, Miss. I can take you to the Malfoy owlery or I can bring one to you. The owls don't like being forced to come to the Manor by Crewe so it may take Crewe a bit." Hermione noticed as he rubbed his fingers that he had tiny cuts over them. She wanted to feel surprised that the Malfoy's had their own owlery but faintly remembered seeing a white peacock on her first day at the manor. Wealthy people had the habit of not knowing what to do with their money.

Hermione force her breathing to remain even when she spoke, not wanting Crewe to think her anger was his fault. "Then would you mind taking me to the owlery?" After he nodded, Hermione put sandals on and followed Crewe out of her suite. The fury she felt was consuming to the point she did not even stop to think about how she was leaving the suite she called her safe place. Hermione was not often a one track minded person nor an angry person but she was faintly coming to accept she was not going to be the same again.

After hearing the door close behind her with a click, an idea struck her. "Do you happen to know where I could find a howler?"

"Yes Miss, the Master has all kinds of howlers. Red, Green, black, all kinds. Would you like one before Crewe shows you the owlery?"

The idea of having to ask Lucius for something brought a sense of dread to Hermione but her anger fueled her determination and she pushed it aside to get what she wanted. It was also mixed with curiosity as she had never seen more than one type of Howler. "Yes."

Crewe guided her down the stairs, through the foyer and into a hallway in the West wing. Unlike the second floor of the manor, that had bright decor and wallpapers to create a more hospitable atmosphere, the first floor had dark decor with a more sterile atmosphere to it. She assumed this was done on purpose to intimidate anyone who came to visit the manor- and she would admit that it had worked. Hermione felt second thoughts prickle at the back of her mind but she fought it by focusing on the words her parents left her with in the will and pushed herself forward. This was something she had to do and once her mind was made up, it became her full intention to see it through.

Crewe stopped at a set of black double doors and knocked. A male voice shouted for them to enter and Crewe opened the door for Hermione to step in first. "Master, the Misses is here to talk to you." Hermione wanted to look around the study as it was lined with books but wanted her time with Lucius to be short. Crewe came in after her looking timid, standing hunched over and close to Hermione.

"Miss Granger, what do I owe this pleasure?" Lucius had a sneer on his face that matched the disgust in his eyes. He had a stack of old diaries by his desk and Hermione found herself wondering briefly if they were all cursed, too.

"I was wondering if you had a Howler I could use?"

Lucius blinked for a second and the disgust was replaced with amusement- his sneer though, was unwavering. He took a sip of amber liquid from a glass he had and Hermione realized why he wasn't bothering to mask anything he felt. She knew it was past noon but could not have been that far past noon for him to be drinking. At least she knew her own father would have disapproved of drinking before 5 in the afternoon.

"Oh, for the Weasleys?" he stood up and walked to a dark, imperial letter filing cabinet that was in the middle of his study. He opened one drawer and Hermione could see it had several envelopes of all colors. He pulled out a deep maroon one and held to out to her. It was not the same color as the bright red ones that Neville and Ron had received and was slightly bigger. "Here. This one should be fine."

She did not take it as she didn't trust Lucius, especially when he had looked too eager to help. Whether he was drinking or not, it was not a good sign. "What will it do?"

"A regular howler would just burn the letter to ashes when done, this one will burn that shed they call a house to ashes." He grinned from ear to ear at the look that crossed her face.

Hermione's mouth had dropped into a perfect "O" and her anger at Dumbledore was temporarily redirected at Lucius instead. "Absolutely not! I-" She stopped herself as reason made it's way through her head in the form of Dr. Augsen's voice. She took a deep breath. forcing herself to think over her actions. She was still furious but Hermione realized she was so busy seeing red she did not see that asking Lucius for a howler was not going to work. "You know what, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sorry I disturbed you, it won't happen again."

He started to laugh as she stomped off towards the door, angrier than she was before she had walked in. Hermione reached for the door knob but jumped back as Narcissa opened the door. With one glance between the messy haired brunette and the prim blonde but proper blonde, Narcissa was able to guess that Lucius was up to no good. "What is going on?"

Lucius' laugh quited into a soft chuckle. "I told her a joke I don't think she took well." He took another drink from his glass as he leaned against the cabinet, still holding the maroon howler.

Narcissa walked over, heels clicking loudly as she took the glass from Lucius. "You're a businessman, not a comedian and _certainly_," allowed her eyes to narrow at her husband "Not a drunk."

He crossed his arms after putting the howler back and returned to sit behind his desk. His attention returning to the diary he was reading.

"Now, Hermione," Narcissa turned to the girl who was flushed and visibly shaking. "What did you seek Lucius to help you with?"

Hermione knew it was rude not to answer so she summoned up as much of a polite tone as she could manage to answer. "I came to ask for a howler." She did not want to mention Crewe in case it would have him punished later. Thus far, the Malfoys had acted like he was not present and she hoped it stayed that way.

Narcissa's eyebrows went up. "I believe that would be the opposite of what Dr. Augsen would recommend. She believes you need your friends to support you." Narcissa did not like how the words sounded coming from her mouth and had to consciously keep her tone from sounding sarcastic.

Hermione took a deep breathe. "I was actually going to send it to Dumbledore." Hermione heard Lucius pause in the middle of turning a page and Narcissa cocked her head to the side. Both were taken completely aback which was nearly unheard of for the duo. When neither said or did anything Hermione continued. "He's making me drop three courses cause he feels I can't..." She took a another deep breath, hoping the truth got her a howler. "handle it."

Narcissa understood but unfortunately so did Lucius. "Well, I think he's right." Lucius' sneer returned to his face. He took delight watching her flush into a deeper shade of red as she was only a few shades from purple now. "You've suffered a huge loss, you should take it easy." He thought it would be perfect if 'the brightest witch of the age' were to fall behind in her studies allowing Draco to surpass her. He did not mind paying for a summer tutor but he expected much more of Draco. Hermione opened her mouth to respond but Narcissa was the one who spoke first.

"Lucius, please." She gave him a look before looking back at Hermione. "Do you think that you're behaving a bit irrationally, Hermione?"

Hermione's anger wavered as she had only thought that herself moments before. Hermione mentally shook off the doubt again though and stood straighter. "No, ma'am."

"Very well." Narcissa turned and pulled out a lavender howler from a different drawer in the cabinet along with a regular red howler from the same drawer Lucius had opened. She gave Hermione the lavender one. "Send him that one. I'll send him this one."

Hermione swallowed, holding the lavender howler in front of her. She only wanted to get her point across, not get expelled from Hogwarts for terrorizing the headmaster. "What does this one do?"

"It will just follow him around all day repeating what was said until he responds. I'll just be following up with this one myself if he does not respond to you in a couple days."

Hermione wanted to turn down Narcissa's offer to send the red howler but not only did she want to take the courses but she did not want to insult the friendliest person in the manor. "Thank you ma'am." She paused, thinking about how tall the owlery was at Hogwarts and how her fear of heights were likely to win over the anger. "I was wondering, would it be possible to have a bit of the calming draught before I sent the howler off?"

Narcissa nodded once, looking the girl up and down once more. "I'll send it to your room once I'm done with Lucius." Hermione recognized the queue of being dismissed and did not miss it.

Hermione was ushered out of the room by Crewe and once the door was closed, Lucius rounded on Narcissa. "Now why is it that you gave her what she wanted? I suspect you have a soft spot for the little mudblood, Narcissa."

It was Narcissa's turn to smirk. She strode to his desk, taking a sip out of the class she had confiscated from him. "My dear, you're too short sighted- you always have been with impulse decisions. Yes, she would have been miserable for a bit, cross even but she would have gotten over it. We can't do anything to her since we'll immediately suffer consequences but if she wants to overwhelm herself and she wants to go piss off the headmaster, then by all means- I'm going to be the supportive guardian to let her do it." She waved the howler as she grinned cheekily at Lucius. "I've been thinking, if there is enough pressure put on her, she may just... break and be sent to St. Mungos to keep the Longbottoms company."

He looked at her for a moment then laughed an evil laugh. Grabbing her hand he her knuckles the back of it. "I love it when you're conniving."

She downed the rest of his fire whiskey and put the glass down. "_I _promise to take care of Hermione if you promise to deal with Fudge."

He kissed her hand one more time looking at his beautiful wife. "Deal." Lucius was too busy looking into his wife's eyes that he did not notice she had one hand behind her back, with the index and middle finger crossed.

\---

Draco has circled the outer gardens twice already and was on his third lap when he heard foot steps coming towards him. He could tell one pair belonged to Crewe, as he often started to hobble when walking fast but he could not tell who the other pair of foot steps belonged to. Thinking it may have been the summer tutor he ditched, he hid himself behind the hedge waiting for them to appear. Only the Malfoy's, Crewe, and Dobby knew how to get through the maze so it would make sense the tutor needed a guide.

Who he did not expect to see was Hermione Granger. She was still wearing her white night dress with her hair in a loose, messy bun. She and Crewe were heading towards the Malfoy owelry as she had a howler and a normal letter from what Malfoy could see. When they had stepped into the small owlery, one that Draco would hardly call a tower especially after seeing the Hogwarts one. Before the door to the owlery could close one Crewe and Hermione entered, he was able to slip in. He was grateful their owlery only had ten steps as he hardly needed to climb any to listen to any conversation held there. The Malfoy's only had twelve owls, mostly for show as his father rarely had to use more than his favorite two owls at one time. The owlery was also for show, something his father insisting on having one built years ago.

"Thank you, Crewe, for helping me today."

"It's a pleasure to help out the kind Miss, Crewe is grateful to have someone like you to serve." Draco took a chance to pear over the edge of the stairs and saw Crewe helping Hermione tie a the purple howler as an owl flre off with the regular brown letter.

"Crewe you don't have to call me 'Miss' or talk to me so formally. You can call me Hermione."

The owl flew off as Crewe had let it go almost prematurely. The envelope was secured though and the owl flew off to deliver it. Crewe however had grabbed the edge of Hermione's dress.

"Have I displeased the miss? Please let Crewe fix it. Crewe is grateful for the Misses kindness and wants to help Miss in any way Crewe can."

Hermione was taken by surprise and gently pulled the nightgown back. "Crewe you still have not made me upset but I am not sure why you want to serve humans so badly, especially ones that hurt you. You're just as good as the rest of us- do the Malfoy's even pay you? I'm sure you feel the same as Dobby felt-" Draco could hardly believe his ears. He knew Hermione was smart but trying to talk a house elf out of servitude was just stupid. All it would cause is the house elf to have a meltdown.

As of on queue, Crewe grabbed his one ear with one hand and the other side of the head with his other. "Crewe would never ask for such a thing! No good house elf would ever, ever ask for such a thing! Dobby was bad! Dobby deserved clothes! Crewe does his best! Crewe does not-"

Making a split second decision, Draco walked up the remaining few stairs, fully coming into view. "Crewe!" Draco called out his name using the same intention he would use as if he needed to summon him so the elf would stop yelling. The house elf stopped his rant and had his full attention on the young Malfoy, almost as if in a daze. "My room needs to be reorganized and I won't wait another moment."

With that the elf disappeared with a loud crack, making Hermione jump and all the owls flew out of the owlery.

Hermione gripped her own head trying to fight the incoming flashback. The sound of gunshots going off over and over in her head like fireworks. She tried to think but every second that passed sent her deeper into the nightmare she had been avoiding thinking about when concious. She knew she was loosing her grip on her own reality when her surroundings warped from the stone in the owelry into the stone streets of France. Everything went dark as if it were night and she noticed she was alone. She heard someone yelling but it was faint and so far away. Was it her parents? She looked around and couldn't find them but she could still hear the gunshots going off repeatedly. She wanted to run to run in all different directions; she wanted to run away from the gunshots, she wanted to run to the person yelling, she wanted to run to her parents but at the same time run away from any dangers and find them later. She felt like she couldn't get air in her lungs and she started to panic as she stood frozen in place, she heard footsteps and someone else screaming, this time a female voice.

"Granger."

The voice calling her name was faint but she could hear it. It wasn't a voice that was usually in her nightmares. She heard the female scream ring through the air again.

"Granger."

Her hands felt too warm- and wet. She looked down to see blood all over her hands. The scream was coming from her. She was the girl screaming.

"Bloody hell, Granger!" She felt someone grab her and when she blinked she was back at the owlery on the floor. Draco had his hands on her arms, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

"Mmmm." she wanted to talk but her mouth wouldn't move no matter what. She slumped towards Draco using the hands he had on her arms to support her weight. Closing her eyes she focused on centering herself as she felt extremely disoriented. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and started an exercise Dr. Augsen taught her when she felt like she was needing to come back into her own reality.

'My name... Granger. Hermione Granger. I'm Hermione Granger. I'm thirteen years old and my birthday... My birthday is in September nineteenth. My best friend is Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. I attend Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have dark brown hair and brown eyes. My favorite color is-'

"So you're done acting like a loony, Granger?" The teasing drawl brought her out of her own thoughts. She leaned back so she sat up straight and looked at Draco. Being this close she could see small flecks of blues and greens in his eyes but it would still looked gray if she allowed herself not to focus in on them to hard.

She pulled herself of the ground using the ledge of the huge owelry window, grateful for once that the Malfoy's were a stuck up bunch who kept everything immaculate. She looked down noticing that she had dropped the vial of calming draught. She bent down for it but Draco grabbed it before she could.

She took a deep breath in, wanting to fight her anger but knowing it was a loosing battle as it quickly consumed her. "Give it, Draco."

His eyebrows shot up and he handed it back to her. "I wouldn't take anything owned by someone like you." He smirked at her as he made a show of wiping his hands on his dress shirt and pants. "I'll have to ask mother to scourgify my hands and burn my clothes later you know. Trying to get you to stop your shrilly screaming I got muggleborn germs all over me. I hope you sent off all the letters you needed as the owl's won't be coming back anytime soon after that meltdown you made my house elf have-"

"I was just trying to help him." She her voice was low but strong as the thoughts of what happened before the flashback slowly trickled in along with a head ache.

"It's what he wants. To serve a family, it's what makes him happy, Granger. Surely a swot like you read that in a book somewhere?"

Hermione looked up to see Draco only had one eyebrow up with the smirk still planted on his face. He reminded her too much of his father and she could hardly believe that he was the same person that Crewe claims to heal his injuries after Lucius beats him.

"I appreciate you helping me but if you're done being a bully you can leave." Her headache was turning into a migraine and she put a hand over her eyes to block out the light.

Draco frowned at her. "So when I leave you out here like this and you can't make it through the maze before the inner garden you can die? And my parents be blamed for your death? Don't be ridiculous." Draco had to remind himself that he had followed her and tried helping her for his parent's benefit and not his own. He did not want to be friends with her but he could not just leave her when she was in no state to get back.

Hermione uncorked the calming draught and drank half of what was left, leaving her with a quarter of the vial. The draught was enough to kill the migraine and the shakes that were beginning to come back but did nothing to stop the anger bubbling in her chest. "I didn't ask for this you know! I'd much rather be at the Weasley's in what you and your family call a 'shack' than be in an almost deserted manor!" As much as she wanted to lay down in her bed she also wanted to get the smirk off of Draco's face.

What she said had worked because he stopped smirking and crossed his arms over his chest. "No one said you did, Granger. However, you should consider yourself lucky for not having to share bath water with ten other people because they can't afford to let the water run more than a minute." He did not understand how she was not impressed with all the Manor had to offer. He saw her house and while it was 'cute' it was nothing compared to the manor in his mind.

"Seven! Seven other people and they get by just fine not sharing bath water!" Hermione decided she was done with the conversation and started down the stairs. She faintly heard him yell something after her but she was already out the door heading back to through the garden to the manor.

Draco followed behind her but not too closely. Malfoys didn't run after anyone and he was not going to waste his breath on a muggleborn who couldn't even see a happy house elf in front of her let alone how grand the manor was. He did agree that the manor was lonely but that was one of many things he would not admit. When she got nearer to the entrance of the maze, he sped up to make sure he wasn't too far behind so he could properly guide her. Draco was never told what was in the maze, no matter how much he asked, just that he should memorize the path so he would never get lost. The only thing he was ever warned of was that the maze was made for any one the Malfoy's felt was unwelcome at the Manor. Draco never strayed from the path as he was a self preserving Slytherin and not a brave Gryffindor.

Hermione felt cold despite the summer heat and had to slow down once she got to the entrance of the maze. She felt a serene calm from the draught but it clashed with the anger and annoyance she felt with Draco as those feelings had hardly subsided. In fact, it started to grow as hunger hit her since she had not eaten all day. Draco finally caught up to her fully and stood by her. His signature smirk reappeared on his face. "I'll show you how to get back to the manor just this one time for free, Granger."

She wasn't going to acknowledge him until she heard a crunching sound and chewing. She turned to see him eating the biggest and reddest apple she had laid eyes on. "Where did you get an apple from?"

He vaguely waved the apple to the trees behind them, giving him time to swallow the bite he took. "They all have fruit. Mom's personal touch for anyone who got through the maze from the manor. All the trees are import- HEY!"

Hermione, making an impulsive but hastily calculated decision, grabbed the apple from him and ran into the maze. She knew if she didn't have something in her body she would probably pass out or have to rely on Draco entirely to help her out so she decided to take the long way out of any maze: becoming a wall follower. By sticking to the maze's left wall she knew she would eventually get out, it was a fact she read once, although she didn't think she would ever need to use herself. Hermione had not been infomred about the dangers of the maze as she had been lost in her thoughts of getting her letters sent off to Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley that she did not even think to memorize the route through the maze.

Hermione eventually had lost count of how many turns she made but she knew she was alone since Draco did not follow her. She had ran out of apple to eat, something she had been savoring as it was quite delicious so she knew she had been in the maze for some time. She didn't feel light headed anymore and the apple had given her strength. Her headache was still nonexsistant as the calming draught was still in her system with help from the tall hedges that blocked out most light. When Hermione took the next left to stay with the wall she found herself in a small clearing that held a sleeping Sphinx, her breath caught in her throat to try and not wake the beast as she knew they were ranked 'XXXX' by the Ministry of Magic. The size of the clearing did not make any sense if you were to look in from the outside of the maze but Hermione knew magic was deceiving like that.

Still holding her breath, Hermione attempted to take a silent step back but as soon as her other foot touched the ground the Sphinx's head snapped up. In one leap she was in front of Hermione. The Sphinx quickly walked around Hermione blocking the way she came. "I haven't had a visitor in over ten yearsss." The Sphinx purred as she smiled a mystic smile that sent a shiver down Hermione's spine.

"I'm sorry I have disturbed you then." Hermione tried to stop the fear that leaked into her voice but she was so scared that the calming draught no longer affected how she felt emotionally. "I'll just be on my way if-"

"I don't think so, child." The Sphinx's smile widened into a mischievous one. "You see, I am put here to stop the ones who were too lazy to bother remembering how they came in. Those who think they are smart to try and cheat the maze by following the wall through. You will be answering atleast one riddle for me. If you get it right, you only have a short way until you're out of the maze."

Hermione felt her lower lip tremble but she bit the inside of her cheek to distract her from her fear. "I did not try to cheat."

The Sphinx laughed. It was a sound that was throaty and gave Hermione a full view of the Sphinxs slightly yellowed canines and incisors. They were perfectly sharpened and Hermione felt her hands start to sweat. She knew what happened if you answered a Sphinx's riddle wrong and for a second time this holiday she found herself in a life or death situation. "Sure, you're not- that's why you just broke out into a sweat." The Sphinx's nose twitched then she laughed again. She laid down in front of Hermione. "But enough, I'll give you an easy one for being a child:

_Often talked of, never seen. Ever coming, never been. Daily looked for, never here, still approaching, coming near. Thousands for its visit wait but alas for their fate, though they expect me to appear, they will never find me here._"

Hermione watched the Sphinx's tail swish back and forth, thinking. 'Easy' she thought, 'What a joke.' Her headache was starting come back as her mind whirled thinking of what could possibly be the answer. Hermione looked at the last bit of the calming draught she had with her. She decided to drink the last of it thinking it would atleast help with her headache again and allow her to think.

"Drinking a calming draught while trying to solve a riddle? My, my, you're brave." The Sphinx chuckled and stretched, flexing her toes and letting the claws protract then retract when doing so.

Hermione struggled to ignore the bait but did as she continued thinking. She felt her headache subside but also felt her thinking slow. Perhaps the Sphinx was right in saying it was a bad idea and she should have dealt with her nerves. Her first dose ensured that she was not going to faint so her second dose was almost unnecessary. She would even go as far as to say she just wanted to drink it.

_Is it creature related? Sphinx related? Egypt related?_ There were so many options as she knew a Sphinx did not discriminate with riddles. _Was it strictly Wizard related? Was it Malfoy related? Or Maze related?_

"Could you repeat it again?"

"Of course." The Sphinx repeated it again, slowly as a courtesy and then started to self groom her paws.

"One more time?"

The Sphinx repeated it at the same pace once more.

After a moment Hermione took a deep breath. "I can only think of one thing, an exit."

"Is that your final answer?" The Sphinx stopped grooming itself and looked into Hermione's eyes. She knew she was scared but the feeling felt somewhat far away from her at the same time thanks to the second dose of draught.

Hermione felt mostly calm as she nodded. "It makes sense if your riddle is maze related, so yes."

The Sphinx's raised it's back legs, ready to pounce. Immediately, the sphinx's claws came through it's fur. "The answer was 'tomorrow', something you won't be seeing-"

Hermione shrieked and started to run to the hall of hedges behind her but tripped over a root she didn't see beforehand. She saw the Sphinx's shadow appear over her. And she looked up to see the Sphinx, mischievous smile back in place, teeth bared. "Something you would not see if you were not a Malfoy." Stepping back and off to the side by the entrance she guarded when telling Hermione the riddle. The Sphinx sat with a smug expression. "You may go."

"Go?" If Hermione did not feel like she could not trust the human, half cat hybrid before she definitely did not now. Her fear caused her to tremble and Hermione was once again reminded on how much she hated her own nerves but her anger at the Sphinx caused her to stand up. She wanted to wince at the pain in her ankle but would not in front of the natural predator. "You nearly give me a heart attack... So I can just go? I'm not even a Malfoy!"

The Sphinx shrugged. "Maybe not by blood but you are bound to them by magic like I am." Hermione wanted to think about what the Sphinx was saying but reason was telling her she was being irrational and should run. Deciding to listen, Hermione turned towards the entrance the sphinx was sitting by but then stopped a few steps before she fully crossed over the threshold.

"That wasn't the riddle." The Sphinx didn't respond nor move, simply smiled at the young girl. "You distracted me to make me forget that this was actually the way I came because you're using this clearing at a _literal riddle_."

The Sphinx laughed but Hermione's confidence in her answer only grew. She started to walk to the opposite exit. When she was only a few feet away the Sphinx lept to the side of the hallway entrance. "Will this be your final answer then?"

"I've already said the exit is my final answer." Hermione's patience was worn down. She wanted to never leave her bed again. Her fear whispered to her that she should have never left as the world was not a safe place and she listened. She wanted nothing more than to sleep for the rest of the evening.

The Sphinx bowed it's head to Hermione. "Very well. I do hope you come back to visit though, you're observant enough to not let anything slip by you in my riddles- even with that drug in your body."

Hermione recognized the compliment and nodded, but paused again before fully entering the hallway. "May I ask you a question?"

"You mean another one than the one you had just asked me?" The Sphinx replied coyly as she groomed herself. "Sure."

Hermione felt a nerve in her head twitch in annoyance, or perhaps the migraine that was coming back. "If I had gotten the riddle wrong, would you of had- you know. Or was that bit about the Malfoy's true?"

"You tell me, child." The Sphinx's face was completely serious and her tail flicked animatedly. "You know the answer to that riddle."

Hermione nodded, not wanting to think if she really knew the answer or not. The calming side effects were starting to make her drowsy and Hermione mentally vowed to not leave her suite until term started. When Hermione fully stepped out of the clearing, a wall of hedges appeared closing her off from the Sphinx. She supposed the Sphinx was telling the truth about only being for people who were trying to get back in to the Manor. The sun was nearly setting and her stomach growled but when she made her final turn she saw the maze entrance that was two wooden double doors. She thought back to how she found it silly the first time she walked through the maze that there were two, heavy, wooden doors but understood that there was probably an enchantment to keep the magical creatures from getting into the Manor.

What she did not expect to see when she exited, was all three Malfoy's standing out side the entrance, especially with Lucius' back hand coming down on Draco's cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I know a lot has happened but it's all significant. I promise I did not go into left field with this chapter.


	7. Dinner is Served

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Depression.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Draco threw his hand out and knocked over the music sheets propped up on the Bosendorfer's grand piano's music rack. He had been trying to play Chopin's 'Winter Wind' but could just barely get past the prelude. He knew why he was unfocused and it frustrated him even more. He felt Hermione Granger had no right to be in his thoughts yet she was there. He decided to take a break from playing as it was not helping his mood like playing music usually did. He picked up the papers from the floor one by one and when he had finished, he decided to give in to his thoughts and allow himself to think. He thought about Thursday night after he had gotten out of the maze. He immediately had summoned Crewe to alert his father while he ran to inform his mother. By the time they all met back at the entrance of the maze, Hermione had already been in the maze for over thirty minutes when the maze should have taken her no more than ten if she knew the path. Lucius and Narcissa searched the maze for an hour, instructing Draco to wait at the entrance in the event Hermione came back out. When they re-emerged with no Hermione, Lucius automatically started yelling at Draco insisting it was all his fault. Draco knew there was no arguing back and stayed silent, even when Lucius started to hit him. Hermione however, immediately sprang into action once she emerged from the maze and saw what was going on. Something that no one, including his mother had done before. Narcissa only intervened once she felt that Lucius was going overboard in his discipline. Draco replayed the scene in his head, while fingering the bruised cheek Lucius insisted he heal the muggle way, trying to figure out why she would intervene when he knew she hated him as much as he hated her;

_"Do you know if we do not find her, your mother and I are going to rot in Azkaban because not only would she be dead, but we'll also be charged with the creatures in that maze? How many times have we warned you of the dangers in the maze, Draco? How many times?" Lucius' hand came back up to strike Draco again but at that moment a frazzled but angry Hermione pulled Draco out of the way. Lucius barely had enough time to stop from hitting her instead, as she stood in Draco's place. Seeing her in his vision broke him out of the slight trance he had entered._

_"STOP! It wasn't his fault!" Lucius and Hermione stared at each other, both breathing heavily, both dealing with their anger. Hermione was the one to speak first as both Draco and Narcissa watched attentively. Hermione was the first to speak. "You can't blame him for my decision to run into the maze without him."_

_Lucius' eyebrows went up. He did not know all the details of what had happened but if he were to be honest, he did not care. Draco was the last to see her and he should have made sure his parents were not to be put in any danger by any decisions he or Hermione had made. Lucius thought he had raised him better than what his actions were proving. "Are you going to tell me what I can and can not do now, Miss Granger?" He stood tall and narrowed his eyes, making sure he put his full intimidating front on for her. He knew that he could not harm her but that did not mean he could not try to scare her._

_However, Hermione was not intimidated and seemed only to grow more upset at the oldest Malfoy. She was raised to always respect her elders and that was something she had always done- she even respected Snape with his constant bullying. However, in the front of her mind she held the fact that Lucius Malfoy almost caused the death of several young students including herself and that was something she would not forget. "I'm telling you that there was no reason for you to discipline him and if you continue, I will be telling Dr. Augsen about what's in the maze- including the Sphinx I had to deal with." Hermione had never tried to blackmail anyone and a part of her mind disagreed with her decision but reassured herself it was for a good cause. Draco was a prat but he did not deserve abuse._

_Lucius' face turned pink and the business man in him wanted to call her bluff on her statement but he knew the girl was well-read enough to know that a Sphinx was illegal to own. He did not even disclose they had a Sphinx to Draco in the event he talked about it to the wrong person. Another part of him was surprised she got past a Sphinx at all with an even smaller part growing a bit of respect for her. Lucius thought about obliviating her right then but imagined that Dr. Augsen would look for signs of her memory being tampered with. Befohe could do or say anything rash, Narcissa was the one to speak next._

_"I think that was enough anyway, Lucius. We should go back in, supper will be ready soon." Narcissa locked eyes with Draco and glanced at the manor's glass back door to motion he should go inside. He walked slowly at first but stopped near the door to see what would happen next. When Lucius and Hermione did not move from their stare down, Narcissa spoke again. "Come, Hermione. I'm sure you're fatigued."_

_Hermione did not want to disrespect Narcissa but she needed reassurance that Draco would not be harmed. She stuck her hand out to Lucius so they could shake on what she said. She saw something flash in his eyes and before he could do anything else she spoke again. "I won't move until we shake." He stared her down, utterly confused and infuriated by her gall. Lucius saw no way out of it though without it eventually ending badly for his family and he squeezed her hand as he shook. Lucius snarled as he shook and he quickly let go. She broke her gaze away to follow Draco into the house, heading to her suite and Draco went to his bedroom. Draco thought his father would soon follow him to finish what had started outside, disregarding what he shook on, but Lucius had not. When Draco was summoned for dinner, he ate with Narcissa alone, telling her about the events leading up to them being separated in the maze. Hermione had yet to join them for dinner as she ate all meals in her room, and he assumed that his father was brooding for the night. Regardless, Draco was relieved not to see either of them._

Draco ran a hand over his already slicked back hair. Nothing he thought of explained Hermione's behavior. Lucius had always taught Draco that something was never done for nothing but he could not figure out what Hermione could gain from stopping Lucius. Draco threw his head back and sighed at the ceiling as he thought of another conclusion: he would have to return the favor. It was another lesson ingrained to him, more by his mother than his father but it was one of the few etiquette rules that made sense to him. Draco pulled the fallboard over the keys and rested his elbows on it. He stayed there until he was called for dinner, brainstorming on what he could do to repay her for the kindness she had showed.

\-----------------------------

While Draco was in the piano room, Hermione was in the main part of her suite, pacing back and forth. She felt protective of her room and did not want anyone but her in it so she decided to wait for the healer outside of the room. Hermione dreaded the idea of meeting with her therapist today, and she realized that it was the first time she felt something towards her session with Dr. Augsen. Usually it was something she did not have an opinion on as she was preoccupied with her intense feelings and mental anguish. On this Saturday afternoon though, she knew meeting with Dr. Augsen would be a double edged sword. Hermione would either be forced to talk about her parents deaths or what had happened since her last session on Wednesday, possibly causing an already big mess to turn into a huge mess if she was not careful. A part of her was excited to get another dose of calming draught, but she was concerned it would cause her to accidentally slip and tell Dr. Augsen the truth about Thursday. She made the deal with Lucius that she would not say anything about the maze, so long as he had not harmed Draco further. She stayed in her suite all day Friday and had to assume that he kept his end of the deal so she was obligated to keep hers. Even if he had not promised Lucius though, Hermione acknowledged the fact she would not of had told Dr. Augsen about the maze, as she would not be able to stomach moving again and starting over.

Dr. Augsen arrived at her usual time and was surprised to see Hermione waiting for her. Usually Crewe would knock on the bedroom door to alert Hermione that she had arrived. Dr. Augsen took this as a positive sign and that she would get Hermione to talk about Hermione's last night in France. "Good afternoon, Hermione. How are you feeling today?"

Hermione always found it to be an odd question for the healer to ask but she always answered the same. "I'm fine."

Dr. Augsen joined Hermione in one of the chairs by the fireplace. She removed her quill, notebook and a vial of calming draught in the event Hermione needed it. "Were you able to read the letters?"

"I read roughly half of them yesterday." Hermione's voice was soft as she spoke. She nervously played with the hem of her pink hooded sweatshirt, not really wanting to meet the healer's eyes as it would make her anxiety worse. Hermione was telling the truth though, she spent all day Friday in her room as she had taken her vow to stay locked in it to heart- especially after dealing with Lucius. Hermione was not afraid of Lucius per se, but making him mad at her was 'biting the hand that fed her' in it's own way. Narcissa did come in to see her yesterday, although she did not Thursday night. Hermione assumed she was healing Draco and ate her own food alone.

Dr. Augsen grinned. While her straight teeth were shiny and white, Hermione was eerily reminded of the Sphinx. Hermione mentally shook the image off knowing it was just her conscious messing with her. "That's great, Hermione. I'm happy to hear you made some progress." Dr. Augsen moved so her elbows rested on her knees. "Although... I did want to ask you about what happened after our session on Wednesday. I understand that you were visited by the Weasleys?" Dr. Augsen waved her wand so her quill and notebook wrote by themselves as she spoke. "Narcissa sent an owl to me reassuring I need not come back after I was notified of his appearance at the Manor, but I wanted to verify with you that everything was in fact alright?" Dr. Augsen's dark blonde eyebrows creased as she looked at Hermione. Hermione knew she was being assessed and had to look into the cerulean eyes of her therapist at that moment.

"Yes, Ron- my best friend- meant well but..." Hermione looked back down to the hem of her sweatshirt. "I believe he just ended up getting Mr. Weasley in trouble. Is Mr. Weasley- Did the Minister- He didn't-"

"Mr. Weasley's job is unharmed if that is what you are trying to ask." Dr. Augsen gave her a sympathetic look. Dr. Augsen knew that the Minister was doing everything he could to keep a positive image on the Ministry, so Arthur's mistake was barely acknowledged to avoid attention being drawn to it. Hermione noticed that the healer was giving her a pitying look which made the anxious knot in Hermione's stomach twist almost painfully. Hermione did not want to talk to Dr. Augsen- or anyone else. It was why she locked herself in her room again yesterday.

"Good. I wrote to him but I had not received a reply yet. I heard he is in Egypt at the moment?" Hermione was never good at distractions but hoped that Dr. Augsen would see that Hermione was genuinely concerned about the Weasley's and not see that she was using it to delay the inevitable conversation.

"Yes, he had been planning it for a bit and started his vacation with his family." Dr. Augsen nodded and looked to the empty fireplace Hermione's suite had. It was summer so it was not lit but she imagined that the fireplace was charmed to have a safe way of getting rid of smoke without a chimney being attached. Dr. Augsen pursed lips before looking back at Hermione. Hermione wanted to squirm under the gaze when she did but she did not give in to the urge. The knot in her stomach grew bigger and heavier. "I want to ask you something, Hermione, and I want you to answer me honestly without fear of repercussions." Hermione swallowed as she waited for the questions, to see which end of the double edged sword she would be sliced with.

"Do you feel safe here?"

Hermione felt her lips part in surprise. It was not a question she had expected at all. The Ministry left her here for a month with no other choice and now they wanted to know how she felt? "I don't see a reason why I should not." She replied slowly. Hermione wanted it to be a lie but she realized after spending days mulling it over, the bottom line was if the Malfoys wanted her harmed, she would be. The thought was even cemented further with Lucius himself when he had punished Draco after she exited the maze. He completely blamed his own son for her being lost in the maze and did not even lay a hand on her when she made Lucius shake her hand. Even with this in mind though, she still could not say that she trusted them. "They have been letting me mourn on my own and when I had fainted, Narcissa made sure I was alright."

Dr. Augsen's quill scribbled furiously into the notebook. "They have not threatened you in anyway? Or made you feel uncomfortable?"

Hermione slowly shook her head as she watched at the speed the notepad wrote. It wasn't exactly a lie. While Hermione may not have been the most sociable person, she knew Lucius tried to make her feel more than uncomfortable. Hermione was somehow able to resist it. "No. Is there a reason for me not to trust them Doctor? I trust the Ministry- they wouldn't put me with anyone who would want to harm me, would they?" Hermione looked back at the healer. She had not meant to sound rude or sassy but coming off the wrong way was something she always had struggled with. It was one of the main reasons her and Ron would argue so often. She saw something change in the healer's eyes and Dr. Augsen leaned back so her elbows were no longer on her knees, her back now straight and her face neutral; she was completely unreadable again.

"Of course we wouldn't. I simply wanted to ensure they were not treating you badly." Hermione nodded once to show her understanding and Dr. Augsen's notebook flipped a page. "Now, we talked about Wednesday night, what did you do Thursday?"

Hermione felt the anxious ball explode in her body. Talking about Thursday was the lesser of two evils but it was still an evil- especially after the questions Dr. Augsen just asked. Hermione was no good at lying and started to feel the panic she usually felt when lying. Lying required energy for her to keep track of any untruths she told and while she may have been feeling better as of late- probably due to Narcissa's potions- Hermione did not feel confident she could avoid digging her own grave. Hermione was not extremely fond of any of the Malfoys but hated the idea of having to stay in the ministry again or having to re-root herself into a new home. A new home with people who would most likely be strangers or someone who would hate her pedigree as much as the Malfoys but would actually do something about it.

Hermione then realized the answer to her solution and berated herself mentally for not realizing it sooner, she would tell Dr. Augsen the truth, just not all of it. Hermione felt her heart rate slow down as relief helped her breathe evenly again. "I woke up late Thursday and received a letter from Harry informing me he was OK and not to worry- I assumed that Mr. Weasley informed him of why I had fainted."

Dr. Augsen nodded. "Yes, Minister Fudge more or less had the whole Ministry looking for Harry."

One corner of Hermione's mouth twitched upwards at the influence her famous best friend seemed to have over wizards. Hermione felt her twitch die though and turn into a frown as she remembered what happened next. "Dumbledore thinks I should drop some of my classes."

Dr. Augsen was silent for a moment, cocking her head to the side. Dr. Augsen's self writing quill slowed as she started at Hermione before speaking. "How does that make you feel?" She assumed this decision would upset Hermione but needed to know how Hermione would adapt to the stress from the change.

Hermione looked up to open her mouth to respond but couldn't talk at first. Tears started to flow- Angry at first, then sad. Trying to harness her anger, she swallowed the lump that formed her throat and spoke. Hermione trusted Dr. Augsen and decided to tell the truth about her feelings. "Angry, and like I'm- I'm broken. Like I'm not going to make my parents proud. It makes me feel stupid because Dumbledore is a great wizard who doesn't trust me. And while I know better than anyone else what this" her left hand clutched her chest. "Has done to me, I can't see how he made this decision, let alone agree to it." Hermione found herself wondering if she would have a day where she did not cry or weep.

"Hermione?" Dr. Augsen called out to her and Hermione realized she got lost in her own thoughts and sorrow again.

"I know I can do it." She was angry- more at herself than Dumbledore now- and pressed her palms into her eye sockets as she tried to will herself to stop crying. Hermione could hear the soft scratching of the quill on paper and used it's cadence to match her breathing. Shortly after, Hermione was able to continue talking. "I sent him a howler but he hasn't replied." Her voice was soft again but slightly raspy. Hermione was unsure if she should mention the howler Narcissa said she would follow up with but decided not to.

Dr. Augsen's eyebrows raised in mild surprise, breaking her neutral mask. "You want to try and take the classes still?" She suspected Hermione would want to but did not think she would take immediate action to retaliate.

Hermione nodded. "Of course. It's not just for me anymore, Dr. Augsen... I'd be doing it for them too."

"But Hermione ten courses, nearly three months after-"

"I can do it!" Hermione's face grew from pink to red as she rubbed her palms into her knees. She did not want to cut her therapist off but she did not want to hear anymore on what other people thought she could not do. "Forgive me if I sound short-" Hermione hated how hurt she sounded but she had hoped her therapist would at least side with her and give her confidence that she was right. She almost let her self fly into a nearly weepy rant but she found herself catching on to a detail she almost missed. "I never said how many courses I tried to take."

Dr. Augsen's quill stopped for a moment and Hermione watched the therapist blink twice then take a deep breath. Dr. Augsen could not believe she allowed what she knew to slip so easily and that Hermione caught it so fast. Dr. Augsen thought the case with Hermione would be like any other case but the more she studied the girl the more interested she became and the more she realized she was wrong. She knew Hermione was a bright witch- she had studied the girl to the point she had the Ministry pull her school records, her muggle school records and her muggle health records just so she could know her as much as she possibly could. Sudying the girl so thoroughly was why she felt it was the right decision to approach Dumbledore and asked to pull Hermione from the classes.

"I had spoke to Dumbledore about it." Dr. Augsen admitted she was slightly nervous but only because she did not want to loose Hermione's trust. "I thought it would be best for you to-"

"'Not overload myself'?" Hermione was shaking again from all of the emotions she felt as she quoted Dumbledore's letter. Her anxiety already had her shaky, her anger tried to weigh her down and her disbelief felt like a punch to her stomach that made her forget how to breathe properly. Dr. Augsen read the report on Harry Potter's recent bout of accidental magic out of curiosity and started to grow slightly concerned she may be in a similar position. Dr. Augsen knew Hermione should not be able to do magic at this point in time though- if her theory was correct at least. So she shrugged the concern off, again the healer looked at the girl and followed her hunch again on using logic to win her over.

"If I explain the reasoning behind the suggestion, will you calm yourself?" Dr. Augsen watched Hermione carefully. Hermione thought about it for a second but ended up nodding since she did not trust her voice. Hermione ran off of facts and any explanation to help her understand Dumbledore's and Dr. Augsen perspective was welcome.

"When... something as harrowing as what you experienced happens to a wizard, it can affect whether or not they can perform magic." Dr. Augsen watched the girl, looking for even the tiniest reaction. Both were silent for a moment as the meaning of what it meant sunk in.

Hermione, not wanting to think about the possibility she could not do magic anymore, put her head between her legs. Her left hand itched to hold her wand again and feel it's comforting warmth but she made no move to get up. "No, I can still do it." She tried to hold in her cries completely but they were only reduced to whimpers. Hermione once again started to feel like she was loosing everything. Hermione could not fathom losing something that she was good at, something she was passionate about, and something she just recently learned she had her parents full support on, despite their plans for her.

"Hermione," Dr. Augsen's voice was soft and when Hermione looked back at the healer she noticed her had a pitying look on her face. "You were showing all the signs a wizard would when they were going down that route. Do you remember your week at the Ministry? You hardly talked, I heard. For weeks afterwards you were hardly responsive, completely disoriented and you still have not talked about what happened." Dr. Augsen paused. She was going to give Hermione the calming draught but wanted to make sure Hermione was able to fully process everything she was saying. She did not want the effects of the calming draught to stop Hermione from comprehending the full weight of her words. "I want to help you, Hermione. I don't want to see another wizard lose their magic."

Hermione shook her head, letting her curls stick to her face without wiping them away. Her face was grossly wet but she knew the healer was wrong. She thought of the static she had felt when she tried to knock over the desk chair and knew she had to tell Dr. Augsen what had happened so the conversation would stop. She needed Dr. Augsen to see the pile of blocks underneath the desk so it would be confirmed that she was not losing her magic. Being unable to speak from crying so hard, Hermione got up to enter her bedroom door that was the tiniest bit ajar. Dr. Augsen hesitated in her confusion of Hermione walking away but quickly followed afterwards. Hermione stood by the blocks and watched Dr. Augsen's reaction.

Dr. Augsen had to remind herself to keep her expression neutral as she bent and picked up a few blocks. At first glance it looked like it was just perfect blocks with the paint from the chair on some of its faces, but on closer inspection she saw that each block had an intricate carving and she had no doubt they would fit together like a puzzle piece to reform the chair. Great bouts of accidental magic always reflected the person who caused it and Hermione was a natural erudite. She looked over to the girl who was wringing her own hands before inspecting the desk. "Has this been the only accidental magic you've done?"

Hermione nodded and Dr. Augsen recognized hope in her wet eyes. It was clear to her that as much as Hermione was scholarly, she was passionate when it came to magic. The girl definitely wore her heart on her sleeve and the healer wondered if she was like that before her parent's death. Dr. Augsen inspected the desk around the blocks and saw no markings of magic touching it. When Dr. Augsen inspected the wood of the ornate Elizabethan four poster bed though, she found more than enough stress marks from magic to prove otherwise. "Hermione, where do you spend most of your day?"

Hermione took a deep breathe to calm herself before answering. "In my room."

"Yes, but where?" Dr. Augsen studied the wood, squinting to see better in the shadow. Hermione felt both hope and anxiety both build inside of her with Dr. Augsen's question- she knew Dr. Augsen found something and hoped it was in her favor.

"In bed. I don't move around much other than to eat or shower honestly." Hermione wiped at her face as she joined Dr. Augsen by her bed. Hermione hoped the statement left Dr. Augsen with the idea that she never left the suite on Thursday and that Wednesday evening was the high light since they last spoke. She started to squint at the wood herself trying t see what Dr. Augsen had saw.

Dr. Augsen had already suspected as much but wanted the verbal confirmation. "Well then, do you see those stress marks?" Dr. Augsen ran a finger across the wood and was surprised to feel actual cracks in it. Hermione was stronger than she had thought. She smiled to herself even though the young witch had proven her theory wrong. "I suspect when you're having a panic attack or something of the like, you are having small episodes of accidental magic."

"What... What does that mean?" Hermione knew she only wanted to hear one thing at the moment. It's not that she did not care about the damage she was causing in the Malfoy's home, but she hardly could see it mattering if she was forced to live the remainder of her life as a non-magical human. Lucius and Draco would never let her hear the end of it if the Ministry did not decide to move her into a random muggle's home.

Dr. Augsen looked into Hermione's eyes at that moment, a soft smile still on her face. "That you are resilient and you're probably not at risk of losing your magic."

Hermione's face brightened and she looked away, taking a deep breath at the weight that lifted from her shoulders. "Probably?" She was overwhelmed with emotion for a moment but for the most part, in a good way. She took deep breaths as she allowed herself to be reassured at Dr. Augsen's words.

"Yes. You are still needing to control your outbursts- the emotional ones as magic is known to go hand in hand with our extreme emotions but you have already started to make progress... If you allow your emotions to continue to cause accidents like this though," Dr. Augsen gestured to the wood above her. "You'll eventually lose it. You'll have to work hard at self control, Hermione. You'll need to find something that will help you de-stress- like meditation or occlumency even. You need to learn how to take your mind off of things without shutting your parents completely out."

Hermione nodded as she let her eyes swell again and the tears overflow. "I just wish they were still here..." The emotions that overpowered her made her tired and she sat on her bed. Dr. Augsen sat next to her and she turned to ask Dr. Augsen a question, one that she knew she would not like the answer to. Her crying had not stopped and she did not make an attempt to stop it anymore. "Do you... Do you know any spells or anything where I might be able to bring them back?" Hermione noted how pathetic she sounded but she didn't care. Dr. Augsen was right- she was shutting them out and she missed them more than anything in the world.

To her surprise, Dr. Augsen did not chastise her for thinking to bring back the dead. "There isn't one, Hermione, I'm sorry. Even if there was it would likely be very dark magic, making the effort worthless as they would not be the same." Hermione nodded, satisfied she was able to at least ask someone the question running through her mind for weeks. The two were silent as Hermione let the tears run down her face again, too tired already to wipe them off. She reckoned if she was given the calming draught she would end up passing out- something she did not want to do at the moment as she, for the first time since their deaths, felt comforted by someone's presence.

Dr. Augsen took a deep breath. She would have to put her initial plans for Hermione on hold but she knew it was always best for her patients to open up at their own pace. Forcing them into talking about their trauma always back fired. The goal was to get them to talk and vent in a healthy manner, even if it was not how she planned it initially. "Why don't you tell me about them?"

Hermione looked up at the doctor and forced a chuckle. "Will that bring them back?" The attempt at making light of the situation only made her feel worse through and she covered her face with her hands as another sob came out.

Dr. Augsen rubbed Hermione's back and half smiled at the attempt, although it was not really funny. "It will for us, at least for a little while. Stories can be a different kind of magic."

Hermione glanced up at her trusted healer and nodded. She wiped her face and attempted to slow her crying again so it would be easier to talk. For the rest of the session, they talked about Jean and William Granger. Dr. Augsen listened and asked questions but allowed Hermione to talk at her own pace. Hermione did not notice at first, but it was the most healing session she had yet and for the while that she talked, she believed Dr. Augsen to be right in saying that it would bring them back- even just for a little while.

\---------------------------

When Crewe announced that Cornelius Fudge had arrived to the manor, Narcissa and Lucius were conversing in Lucius' study. She sat on the edge of his desk to his right side and he sat in his desk chair.

When the Minister walked in, they both noticed how extremely worn out and frustrated he looked. Lucius found himself wondering how Fudge became Minister with having such a weak poker face. When he got to Lucius' desk, he nodded to Narcissa then opened his mouth to greet Lucius.

"It's rude to wear your hat in someone's home, Minister." Narcissa did not move to stand even when Lucius did to greet Fudge. She kept her back to Fudge and hardly twisted her body around to look at him.

"My apologizes, Narcissa." He nodded again at her and eyed the slight pear shaped figure she had but did not remove his hat. He was already in a sour mood and had to give himself a pep talk on the way over, convinced he would not let himself be bullied by the Malfoy's this time. "Good evening, Luci-" Fudge stopped as his hat flew off his head and into Narcissa's hand. She gently placed the bowler hat upside down on to the edge of the desk that was closest to the Minister. Narcissa turned her back on the Minister completely and started to inspect her nails. Lucius had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from smiling. The Blacks were raised to believe the words 'thank you' were never to be said but Narcissa was resisting the urge to thank him on removing his hat, just to make the Minister that more frustrated.

"It's a pleasure to be visited again by the Minister. To what do we owe this pleasure?" Lucius fought to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Fudge glanced at Narcissa's back and attempted another power move before he completely lost his nerve. He puffed out his chest and straightened his back like his speech coach would have encouraged him to. He was told that confidence was key and he tried to exhibit confidence whenever he could. "It is regarding business and I think it is a conversation left for men to have." He planned on arriving to the Manor and telling Lucius what he needed, not have Narcissa make a fool out of him. It angered him that neither appeared to respect him as the Minister of Magic.

Lucius placed a hand on Narcissa's wrist. From where Fudge was standing, it would have looked like an intimate gesture but Lucius was really stopping her from drawing her wand. He leaned over and placed his lips on her right temple. "Our promise." His voice was barely over a breath but he knew his meaning was clear to her. He needed the Minister's complete trust to enact what ever plan he finally used to get revenge. It would not serve him well for either of them to get on the Minister's bad side.

Narcissa stood and practically pivoted a hundred and eighty degrees to look at Fudge with a fake smile plastered on her face. "If this business is about Hermione, perhaps it would be best for for me to be present for the conversation, as I have personally taken her under my wing." She placed her hands palm in palm behind her back. To a fool, the pose would look like she was meaning to be open or peaceful. However, to those who were more knowledgeable of body language, it was a gesture to show she was the fierce superior in the room. Narcissa was one of two people Lucius would allow to present themselves like that in his own home. The other person was Voldemort.

Fudge curled his lips inward as he processed what Narcissa had said, his lips turning white at the pressure he pressed on them. He felt all the confidence he had built up disperse to be replaced by anger. He never understood men who allowed their women to speak so much. "I suppose that does make sense. How is she, Narcissa?"

Narcissa's smile didn't falter but her head tipped to the side by the slightest degree. "I was under the impression Dr. Augsen worked for the Ministry, does she not give you any updates?"

Lucius put a hand on Narcissa's back in warning. "Minister, what was it about Hermione that you had come to see us about? It must have been important for you to come yourself."

The Minister decided to reply to Lucius, completely ignoring Narcissa. "I assume you have heard about Sirius Black?"

"I don't think there is a single wizard left who has not heard of Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban." Lucius had an idea on where the conversation was going and his voice started to get lower.

"Hermione was brought here to help your name sake and the Ministries. I do not see how her staying in the manor all the time is helping anyone at all."

Narcissa spoke up again. "Ah, so the healer does not give you updates?"

"It seems Narcissa hasn't had her afternoon tea." Lucius offered a mild explanation for her behavior but he did not apologize. He was a strong believer in Malfoys not apologizing. "Hermione should have been taken to St. Mungo's, Fudge. Not brought to my manor to be your scapegoat. If Hermione could willingly leave the manor without having a break down, it would have been done."

"But you see, she was brought to the Manor to be our scapegoat- not St. Mungo's where she would be spending her days inside. I don't care what she can and can not do. If you want her sent to St. Mungos- fine, I'll look into it after Black is caught. However, I need you to at least make an attempt at a family outing so The Daily Prophet has something to cover other than how the Ministry has found nothing." Fudge was practically spitting as he spoke. Lucius assumed this was the first time the minister was able to talk about his true feelings on the dilemma he was in for a while. "I don't even care if she has a public meltdown! It will probably make a better headline, in all honesty. If you don't give me something to work with, the next article The Daily Prophet will publish will be a piece on how rumors have started that Sirius Black," The Minister gave a pointed look to Narcissa, who still had a smile on her face, "May be hiding in Malfoy Manor with his extended, Death Eater family." Lucius moved his hand from Narcissa's back, his own anger filling him as he withdrew his own wand. He had enough of the Minister approaching him and treating Lucius like his subordinate.

The Minister blanched and moved for his own wand but Narcissa disarmed the Minister while also snatching Lucius' wand from his grip. "Enough." Narcissa moved to the front of Lucius' desk so she was directly between both men. "Not only have I never met Sirius, he was not a Death Eater." The Minister opened his mouth but she held up her wand- not pointed at him but in the same way someone would hold up a finger to stop an interruption. "So no piece shall be written or published. Especially since we must shop for the children's school supplies soon. When we have a date set, we will notify you so you can get your material. However, I must ask you to not do anything to intentionally upset her when we are at Diagon Alley as it would only make us look like we are not capable of raising a child, but it will make the Ministry look as if they made another mistake." Narcissa handed the Minister's wand back to him. Was there anything else we could help you out with today?"

The Minister ran a hand over the oil and sweat covering the top of his mostly bald head, hating that he was being dismissed yet again but mostly satisfied with the result he got. The Minister ground his teeth together but decided not to ignore Narcissa this time, even if he did have his wand back. "No." Lucius had sat back down in his Victorian, button-back, dragon hide desk chair. His hands were clasped together as he waited for Narcissa to return his wand. Fudge wanted to feel like he had the last word in though and leaned to the side to look around Narcissa. "Lucius, just make something happen, will you?"

"I'll escort you out then." Narcissa grabbed the Minister's hat and replaced it with Lucius' wand. She gave her husband a warning look not to do anything harsh and followed the Minister out. She stayed directly between Lucius' line of sight and the Minister's back so Lucius was unable to hex the minister on the way out. Once the door had shut closed she heard a loud crash of glass breaking. The minister quickly glanced behind him, his hand on his wand. She started to walk towards the exit, not waiting for Fudge to follow. When she heard his footsteps behind her she glanced over her shoulder again. "Lucius is very stressed at the moment. It displeases him when unannounced guests come in and demand things from him."

The Minister grunted at the woman. He did not expect her to understand politics or how it shouldn't bother Lucius when the Minister needed him so he did not feel the need to give a full reply. They did not talk again until they reached the front doors.

"Perhaps it would be best to approach me from now on about Hermione. I can assure you I am much less... Violent." Narcissa opened the front door with her fake grin on her face again. Fudge was reminded of a snake just before it struck it's prey- which did not seem to odd of a comparison looking at the former Slytherin. "It is a wife's duty to help out their husband's, is it not?"

Fudge perked up at the question. The image of the snake disappearing from his mind as he thought that Lucius did have a wife who had manners after all. "Why yes it is. I'll take that into consideration if I need to come by the Manor next time, Narcissa."

Narcissa continued to smile as she gave a polite nod. "It pleases me to hear that, Minister." She watched him put his hat back on as he walked out of the door and continued to watch him as he walked outside of the wards to disaperate. She closed the door and was going to make her way back to her bed chambers when she noticed a pale face staring down at her from the stairs. She checked her watch and looked back up at the girl. "Good evening, Hermione. I take it Dr. Augsen has already left?"

"Yes, Ma'am..." Hermione was silent for a moment, then summoned the same bravery that she used to leave her suite in the first place so she could seek out Narcissa. "I wanted to join everyone for dinner tonight but did not know where the dining room was."

Narcissa smiled up at the Hermione. "Come, I will show you."

\------------------------------

Hermione knew she did not have to join the Malfoy's for dinner until tomorrow, but if she had to eat with them, she decided she wanted to eat with them on her own terms. Hermione decided she would seek out Narcissa, then prepare herself for dinner.

Currently, Hermione was preparing by soaking in her bath tub, grateful that wizards thought to create a charm in tubs that kept the water warm for more than ten minutes. Her stomach turned again as she thought about what she had talked herself in doing; She was completely split in half, one part of her was nervous that she decided to deal with the Malfoys a day early and the other half- the side that proved she was Gryffindor- was proud of herself that for deciding to take at least some control of her living situation.

Hermione had been sitting in her bath, thinking then over thinking, for over an hour when Crewe came into the room to inform her that dinner would be ready in less than thirty minutes. She got out, dried herself and wrapped her hair in a towel. When she walked into her bedroom in a black robe that had the Malfoy crest over her heart in silver, she saw that Narcissa had laid out a dress for her. It was a simple black dress with short lace sleeves and a lace turtle-neck collar. Hermione had not thought to ask if there was a dress code for dinner but realized it was silly not to ask as she realized that Wizards, especially the wealthy ones, seemed to abide by older customs. The dress made her stomach flip once more as she slipped it on. It was modest but fit her perfectly with a pocket just big enough for her want to fit. Hermione looked at herself in the bathroom mirror as she pulled her unruly hair into a high pony tail. It still looked a mess, but at least there was no risk of accidentally getting a forkful of hair in her mouth. Hermione stared at herself in the mirror as it was the first time she bothered to look into a mirror in over a month. She was never a vain person but even she was able to see the difference in her face. She had dark circles under her face and her cheeks were not as full as they once were. She turned to the side to check her waist and noticed she had definitely lost more pounds than she would have liked. When Hermione tried to smile, the mirror then decided to speak.

"Grimacing at your own reflection is still rude, especially with those teeth. Treat yourself better than you would treat others, my dear." The mirror's voice had the same aristocratic tone as Lucius but it was a woman's voice.

Hermione jumped back, completely surprised. She then put one hand on her hip and looked at the mirror. "And what kind of advice is that?"

"Good advice." The mirror had a tone that now implied it was very pleased with itself. Hermione shook her head as she walked out of her bathroom and into her room. Hermione thought that now was a good time as any to make her way downstairs, but before doing so, she drank Narcissa's yellow potion followed by a quarter vial of calming draught that was intentionally left behind by Dr. Augsen. The therapist not only wanted to switch Hermione to dreamless sleep draughts- which could cause an adverse reaction when mixed with calming drought- but Dr. Augsen was open to the idea of talking to Dumbledore in regards to Hermione's classes if she could prove to utilize what Dr. Augsen had taught her by getting through her sessions without the need of calming draught. By the time she opened the door to the hallway, the effects of the draught had entered her system and she found it much easier to think about what she had agreed to. Hermione was thankful that her therapist was kind enough to support her idea of facing the Malfoys on her own terms and gave her a small dose.

When Hermione got to the dining room, all three Malfoys were already seated. She felt her face turn a light pink as two silver eyes and a pair of hazel ones stared at her. She tried to subtly shift so she stood straight as she walked to the one empty chair that was waiting for her. When she reached it though Narcissa held up a hand, signaling for her not to sit.

"Draco." Narcissa's voice was cold and even though it was not directed at her, she still felt uncomfortable.

Draco glanced between Hermione and his mother. "Honestly, the girl has two hands and can pull out the chair herself." It was the first and possibly only time that Hermione thought she would ever find herself agreeing with Lucius. Hermione did not need Draco, of all people, to be chivalrous to her when she had more important things on her mind. Lucius sipped on his glass of white wine as Narcissa turned to face him.

"I raised a gentleman, Lucius. He knows better." Her head snapped back to Draco. "I shan't ask again."

Draco pressed his lips together as he got up and pulled out Hermione's chair. When she sat he clumsily pushed her chair back in. Only after he sat back down did she notice how awkward she felt from the tension. The dining table was not large at all to the point it was easy to miss it was rectangular in shape and not square. Lucius was to her left at one end while Narcissa was to her right, leaving Draco to sit directly across from her. When she looked down to see what was in front of her, Hermione saw that it was a full table set up complete with three forks, two spoons, two plates and two knives. Her first instinct was to laugh at the thought of someone insisting to eat in such a posh manner on a daily basis but the reality of it hit her before she could even crack a smile; This was her life now and she would just have to adjust.

The air started to get heavier with tension but Narcissa acted as if them sitting together was something they had done a thousand times before. Narcissa rang a bell and the first course appeared from thin air as it did at Hogwarts. No one talked during the first or second course; Hermione focused on the sense of peace the calming drought gave her, determined to ignore the three people around her unless they spoke directly to her. When someone broke the silence, to Hermione's surprise, it was Lucius Malfoy and when he did, it was in french.

“_Who knew the mudblood had table manners and decent rags to wear?_" Lucius and Draco shared a look as they snicked into their meals. Hermione was surprised that Draco knew french as she never suspected he spoke anything other than English. Obviously though, none of the Malfoy's suspected that she herself was fluent.

"_Perhaps muggle schools have decided to actually teach something for once, father_." They both laughed and glanced at Hermione whose knuckles turned white as she cut through her steak.

Like Hermione, Narcissa did not find what they said funny at all. "_I doubt someone who is the top of her class at Hogwarts, was not taught anything for the first ten years of her life- and I don't recall you calling that dress a rag, Lucius, when we went on our first date. As a matter of fact, I believe you complimented it._" Narcissa did not look up from cutting her steak but Lucius and Draco immediately stopped laughing. Lucius looked at Hermione's (who had to stop a grimace from forming on her face at the thought of the older Malfoys on a date) dress more closely.

"_And why is she wearing something that does not belong to her_?" Lucius looked back at his wife who was now sipping on her own glass of wine.

"_Why do you care? The dress did not belong to you, either._" Narcissa tossed her hair behind her shoulder and took a bite of steak. Hermione had to drink from her glass of water to stop from smiling and blowing her cover. She once again mentally thanked Dr. Augsen for the calming draught as it made her much less impulsive. Hermione would have immediately corrected Lucius in french if she had not drank it. "_And in case the Minister was not clear, she is a part of this family now. Therefore, what is ours is also hers- something I have been wanting to talk to all of you about- especially you Hermione._"

Hermione had went back to cutting the rest of her steak to hide her flinch at the word 'family' but looked up at Narcissa when she heard her name. She was unsure whether she should come clean and reply knowing the context of the conversation or ask for Narcissa to repeat herself in English.

As if reading her mind, Narcissa smiled coyly and spoke in French again. "_Your knuckles are too white for you not to understand what was being said and you stopped eating as you listened. It's rude to eavesdrop on conversations, you know._"

Hermione felt her face completely flush as she looked at Lucius and Draco. They both looked at her skeptically, not believing Narcissa at first. Hermione looked back to Narcissa and could practically hear Lucius' and Draco's jaw fall open when she spoke perfect french. "_And I was always told that speaking another language in front of someone else was rude._"

Hermione meant the statement as a joke and was relived that Narcissa did not chastise her when she realized how rude it sounded after it was said. Lucius, Draco and Narcissa did not speak again until the bell was rang for the fourth course to start. "Hermione, you are a part of the Malfoys now so I do hope you understand that anything you do reflects on us. We tend to be private and would appreciate you talking about your time here to anyone outside of our manor a minimum."

Hermione was successful at keeping a grimace off her face at the thought of being considered a Malfoy but could agree to everything else that was stated. Hermione imagined going back to Hogwarts was not going to be easy once the news spread about her living situation and she did not see how adding a Sphinx into that helped any. "Yes, of course."

Draco huffed. "Like she would keep anything from Potty and Weasel a secret." Draco stabbed at the sauteed greens on his plate, not looking up at Hermione even though she was sure he could feel her glare.

"They are much better company than Crabbe and Goyle." He looked up at her then and met her glare with his own.

"Children, please. Draco, I'm not going to ask for you to be friends with Hermione, although that would be preferred, but you will need to stop picking fights with her." Draco opened his mouth to reply but looked at Lucius for a defense. Narcissa, of course, was faster than either of them when it came to getting her point across. "Same goes for you Lucius. You can not expect for things to work out when we can not be civil with each other." Lucius wanted to stare at his wife like she had three heads but she had already talked to him about this before they were interrupted by Fudge. He trusted Narcissa in whatever plan she had for Hermione and if she asked him to back off then he would, no matter how much he hated every second of it. "Hermione will be living with us for a while. I will not stand to have this tension in my home twenty-four, seven."

For show, Lucius grimaced then nodded. "I see your point." Lucius gulped down the rest of his wine then tapped the table twice and his glass was slowly refilled. He had meant to stick to his word on not bullying Hermione but he had no clue that she was fluent in french. If he was being completely honest with himself he found the child to be interesting as she had shown strength and intelligence in the short time she had been with them. To satisfy his own curiosity and to make up to Narcissa on the scene he caused by speaking french, he decided to start a civil conversation. "So you speak French, Miss Granger?"

Hermione felt her throat tighten and her tear ducts prickle. She looked down at her food and took a deep breath. She imagined that her session with Dr. Augsen helped more than she thought as she did not dissolve into tears as she spoke. The ice had been broken and while there was a substantial amount of hate at the table, she had no trouble meeting his eyes knowing that Narcissa would not allow him to be unbearable. "Dad was a traditionalist in a few ways. Granger comes from Grange which was an occupational surname for a barn bailiff so he insisted I learned French." Hermione let her eyes flick over to Draco as she continued speaking. "I happen to know what silverware is appropriate for a course as I did go to a few events with mum and dad for their dentistry."

"You were home schooled?" Draco had barely touched the fourth course and was staring at Hermione. He himself had been home schooled and would have found it odd that someone he considered to be so different from him may have had a common up bringing.

Hermione finished swallowing her bite of food before answering. While she felt like she did not have an appetite, her body- thanks to Narcissa's potion- told her otherwise. "Not really, I was only given Cello and French lessons at home. I went to a private school in my neighborhood before Hogwarts." Draco turned back to his food, satisfied with her answer.

Narcissa rang her bell for the dessert course to start and Hermione watched as the cooked greens disappeared to be replaced with a Lemon Blueberry Trifle. Hermione would have usually been ecstatic to have such a sweet in front of her since her parents never kept genuine sweets in the house, but it only reminded her of them more. She looked up from the desert and glanced at Lucius then Narcissa. She summoned her Gryffindor bravery once again and forced herself to speak. "I was wondering, when would we be going to Diagon Alley?" Narcissa had just taken a bit of the trifle full so Lucius answered.

"I still have yet to look at my schedule." Lucius had an eyebrow raised, wondering what her next question would be.

"I see... I was wondering if I could request if we went in the last week of holiday if at all possible?" This time Hermione took a drink of her water as her mouth went dry. She hated the idea of having to ask Lucius Malfoy of anything, especially if it made him sneer like it did now. Hermione wondered if this was 'nice Lucius' or if he had disregarded Narcissa's request to be civil already. She did not know him well but she felt it was safe to assume he would not be a man of his word.

Lucius could not help the sarcasm enter his voice as he was almost done with his fourth glass of wine. "And why would you want to wait until the last minute to buy anything?"

Between Dr. Augsen and Hermione, they assumed she would need to explain herself and Dr. Augsen encouraged she should state the truth. "Dr. Augsen believes I should interact with my friends more and I was informed that they would be doing their shopping in the last week.

Lucius laughed and Hermione sat even more straight in her seat. "Lucius. Our promise." Narcissa had used a warning tone that made Hermione wonder what exactly that was supposed to mean. Glancing at Draco she saw him lift an eyebrow which indicated he had no clue what that meant either.

Lucius waved a hand as he laughed. "It's up to Narcissa as she will be the one scheduling your appointments with Madam Malkin and Madam Diamandia." Hermione wanted to ask who Madam Diamandia is but Narcissa spoke first.

"Not Diamandia." Narcissa looked at Lucius, lips pursed in distaste. "She said she was booked when I said I was scheduling for two."

Lucius' eyebrows raised. "I suppose several of our preferred venders would feel that way." He glanced at his own pure blood son, thinking about how while he only bought the best for his family. The best though, were all purebloods who they they felt the same way he did in regards to mudbloods. "Still, I won't tolerate it." Lucius stood and excused himself as he walked off, Hermione assumed to his bed chambers.

At the same time that Hermione turned to Narcissa, so did Draco. "May I also be excused?"

"Yes, Draco." Draco stood but before leaving he glanced at Hermione. He seemed to have wanted to say something but decided not to say it.

Hermione, not bothering to think about his behavior more than a second after he left, returned her attention to Narcissa. "Ma'am, who is Madam Diamandia?" Hermione wanted to ask why Lucius thought she felt a certain way but reminded herself asking so many questions at once would be rude.

"A Hairdresser- do you not like Trifles, Hermione?" Narcissa's hazel eyes were focused on Hermione and Hermione felt like they had the ability to see through her. They were a beautiful combination of color that reminded Hermione of one of the stained glass windows in the Notre-Dame Cathedral she saw.

Hermione swallowed and looked away from her gaze, staring at the decadent desert in front of her. "I'm not a huge sweets person."

They were silent for a while but Narcissa did not press further on Hermione's unconvincing lie and Hermione did not attempt to explain what a dentist was. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your suite." Hermione appreciated the action as she did not want to be completely alone just yet. When they both got up, Narcissa rang the bell once more for everyone's food, plates, and silverware to disappear.

When they got to Hermione's door, Narcissa turned to the girl, her fingers interlaced in front of her. "I'm glad you were able to join us. When you know what day your friends will be in Diagon Alley, let me know so I may adjust accordingly."

"I appreciate you doing that for me." Hermione had her hand on the door knob. Now that she was so close to her bed, she was anxious to get in side and fall into a nightmare-less sleep that Dr. Augsen promised she would get with the dreamless draught.

"Of course. Good night Hermione."

"Good night." Hermione entered her suite and pressed her body against the door sliding to the ground. The small bit of calming draught that Dr. Augsen gave her for tonight had completely wore off leaving her with it's after affects. She was miserable but a bit of pride had bloomed in her chest from what she had accomplished. When she finally got up from the floor, she noticed that there was a small box on the suite's table that was by the fireplace.

When she opened it, the small cube Dr. Augsen gave her was in side. Hermione had looked for it on Friday, thinking she had misplaced it in her suite until she finally remembered she last had it when she had fainted. She had thought about leaving her suite on Friday to look for it at the entrance of the manor but decided not to. She was excited to have it back again until she realized that it meant someone had been in her suite. Hermione knew that it was either Lucius or Draco who returned it and it made her uncomfortable to think about which one had returned it. She looked inside the box once more hoping to find a note but did not see one.

She left the box on the table, but took the cube into her bedroom with her, placing it on her bed side desk. Hermione grabbed her wand from the drawer in the desk and felt comforted as a warm flow of magic entered her palm. She had only felt the familiar warmth with the static feeling when she had accidentally used magic on the desk chair but it was a nice feeling. Hermione welcomed it as it made her feel safe and powerful. Hermione walked around the room, checking the closet, and the bathroom before feeling confident no one was in her room. Before she changed and climbed into bed though, she propped the desk chair that Dr. Augsen repaired for her on to the bedroom door, as a final security measure as she could not magically lock it. While she thought the Malfoys would not harm her, and that she was probably over reacting, someone being in her suite without her permission violated that confidence.

After she was in bed, she eyed the purple, shimmering liquid that was the dreamless draught. Glancing around her room one more time, she drank it and drifted into the dreamless sleep, wand in one hand in the event she needed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I just want to take the time to thank everyone who is sticking through the beginning with me. I am so thankful for you all and also wanted to give you the heads up that the next chapter may take me a bit longer than usual to publish BUT should pick up the pace of the story. I have two final projects to do along with studying for a final so I am saying sorry in advance!
> 
> The full name of the song Draco was trying to play is “Etude Op 25. No 11 (Winter Wind.) Here is the link if you’d like to listen: https://youtu.be/gZjdAWgjLx8


	8. Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Three weeks later.

It was the day before they would leave to get on the Hogwarts Express and Hermione sat in bed, playing with the different sides of the wooden cube, thinking about how she was finally seeing her best friends after not seeing them properly in two months. She paused her playing with the cube for a moment and narrowed her eyes. A small part of her was still cross with Ron but she had started replying to his letters and they were on better terms. Hermione briefly thought about the last two weeks, as they had been interesting enough. She had built a routine: Hermione would wake up, eat the breakfast that she had laid out for her in her room, reply to any letters she had received or re-review her already completed homework. The letters and home work would keep her busy through lunch where she would then take a long bath before supper. Dinners with the Malfoys were, for the most part, silent aside from the small talk Narcissa would make with everyone- Hermione found Narcissa to be intimidating to the point it border lined scary but she respected the woman greatly. She would have her usual sessions with Dr. Augsen on Wednesdays and Saturdays where she had not gave in to using the calming draught but she also had not been able to talk about her parents death. Hermione had ventured into the inner garden once or twice just to get fresh air but never into the maze- when she had tried to open one of the doors she found it was magically locked. She also tried playing her father's cello a few times but had been unable to bring the bow across the strings once. Instead, Hermione would perform maintenance and clean it using the kit she had brought from her home as she usually ended up getting her tears on the cello.

Hermione got up from the bed and pulled her hair back into the neatest ponytail she could manage, she never used to wear her hair up but she found it to be convenient as it stayed out of her way when it was pulled back. Hermione smoothed out the dress that she wore on her first dinner with the Malfoys, her wizard robes on one arm. She was unsure if she should wear her only non-Hogwarts robes but seeing as the Malfoys were never without their robes outside of the manor, she decided it was best to bring them. Luckily her robes, like the dress, were made of a light fabric that still allowed her to stay cool in the sticky London heat. When she headed down the stairs, she found the main foyer to be empty. Narcissa informed them the night before that they would be traveling by floo and that they were all to meet in the foyer by one PM. Hermione did not have to wait long before she was joined by Draco, who was already wearing his wizard robes with the Malfoy crest pinning it together. She eyed him skeptically- She never found out who left the cube in her room but she recognized he would be more likely of the two between him and Lucius.

Draco returned her look with one of his own. "What?"

She shook her head, looking away. "Nothing." While Hermione was a straightforward person, she realized that not everything required an immediate confrontation.

He scoffed and she looked back at him, her nose wrinkled. "Whatever, I'm not going to pretend to care what a mudblood thinks. However," He took a couple steps closer to her and crossed his arms. "I did want to talk to you before we went back to Hogwarts."

Hermione blinked as her face went blank from being caught off guard. She did not imagine Draco Malfoy would ever want to willingly talk to her- which was something that she as OK with. They were both under Narcissa's pressure to be civil, which was something she would honor but, she did not expect them go further than that. Hermione did not hate him but he did not give her a warm and fuzzy feeling either. "I'm sure everyone at Hogwarts knows about you living with us but we are not friends. Outside of _my_ manor, we don't talk. If you think anything is going to change because my parents have to be your keeper-"

Hermione walked up to Draco so she was standing directly in front of him. In the back of her mind she noted how they were no longer the same height and he had a few inches over her but she did not care. "You do _not_ talk about why I am here. And why would you think I would expect anything to change? Just because my life has taken a turn doesn't mean I wanted it to and I have full intentions of acting as such when we get back to Hogwarts. I'd be more than happy _not _to talk to you again so long as you stay out of my way."

He had drawn back a little when she stepped forward and he blinked several times. She was angry with him but knew she was mostly just taking her anxiety out on him. Realizing this, she walked away and sat on the couch, her face in one hand while the other fidgeted with the cube.

Draco opened his mouth to say his snarky rebuttal but heard the sound of heels from the hallway. His mother strode into the room, her face flushed a tad pink from circling the manor. "Have either of you seen Lucius?"

Draco shook his head and Hermione replied with a polite "No, ma'am."

"Draco, use your words and not your body- I am not a mute." Narcissa's two toned hair was pulled into low chignon and beneath her velvety wizard robes, she wore a champagne colored dress that complemented both the blonde and brunette hairs that were peaking out of her low bun. She started to accio different items from her bedroom as she continued to talk. "I did want to make a point clear with you Hermione, before we went out." Hermione straightened in her seat as she listened. She noticed it was a habit she used only when Narcissa spoke directly to her. "Living with us, you will no longer have to worry about money, we will pay for your school supplies and robes from here on. Even if there is something you need while at Hogwarts, let me know and I will get it to you."

"That's all right actually, my par-" Hermione immediately felt a lump start to form in her throat as she almost slipped on the word. "I am sure I have enough money to cover my Hogwarts expenses." Hermione thought about how expensive school supplies were and how the Weasley's struggled every year with the expense. She knew the Malfoys could more than afford one more student but it still made her feel guilty. "You don't have to do that for me."

"I didn't ask if it was ok for us to pay for you, Hermione. We're going to." Narcissa's tone was final and Hermione knew there was no arguing on it. "In our household, the young men and women are treated equally. What we do for Draco is what we would do for you. Of course, that goes both ways, if there is something we would not allow Draco to do, you will not be able to do it either. Do I make myself clear?"

Hermione nodded as she knew how to pick and choose her arguments. Then, remembering Narcissa's comment on not being a mute, she decided to speak. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Narcissa stiffened but did not reply. She made a mental note to inform Hermione later on how insulting she found verbal thanks to be and glanced at her watch once more.

Narcissa exhaled through her nose seeing the time and started to tap her foot. Hermione had learned that when one of the older Malfoys were annoyed, it was best to be as out of their way as possible and to be as silent as possible. Narcissa did not take her anger out on them, like Lucius did with Draco and Crewe, but her already intimidating aura grew even more thick and threatening. "Forget it, we'll just go without him." She walked towards the fire place and reached for the floo powder bag but at that moment, Lucius appeared in the very same fire place. "Lucius Abraxas Malfoy- Where have you been?" Narcissa's voice was a low hiss and Hermione found it to be the most 'unladylike' thing Narcissa had ever done. "You know what, don't answer. DIAGON ALLEY!" She threw the floo powder into the fireplace he was still standing in and he disappeared in the roaring green flames. Narcissa turned to look at Hermione and she visibly gulped, nervous having Narcissa's full attention on her when she was in a more than sour mood. "Have you used floo powder before?"

Hermione shook her head but stepped into the fireplace after putting on her cloak, assuming it was best to act quickly when Narcissa felt rushed. She did not have to duck to step into the fireplace as it was much larger than a muggle one. Hermione had read about traveling this way before, when she first found out she was a wizard, but never had the chance to travel by floo herself.

"When traveling by Floo, you're going to want to grab a handful of floo powder and speak your destination very clearly or you'll end up elsewhere." Narcissa held out the bag of floo powder and Hermione grabbed a fistful.

"Right." Hermione took several deep breaths so her anxiety would not get the best of her, possibly causing her to say the wrong name. Hermione was nervous already, seeing her friends for the first time since her parent's funeral was exciting in more ways than one for her and she had to consciously remind herself that everything would be fine. Hermione glanced once more at Narcissa who was tapping a finger on the floo powder bag before Hermione yelled: "DIAGON ALLEY!" Right when she started to say 'Diagon' though, Draco yelled for her to 'hurry up', causing her to mess up on the proper pronunciation despite her best efforts. Hermione disappeared in green flames and Narcissa turned to look at Draco, one first clenched tightly by her side. They both thought they heard her incorrectly say Diagon Alley but were unsure.

"Draco. I'm not going to ask why you did that as I do not pretend to understand foolishness." Narcissa took a deep breathe to stop herself from yelling at her only son. "Pray that when we step through, Hermione is waiting with your father on the other side." Her voice was calm and Draco regretted yelling at Hermione immediately. Narcissa's collected voice always meant she was in the worst mood and he knew it was now directed completely at him. Grabbing a fist full of of floo power himself, he stepped into the fireplace and appeared at the Leaky Couldron, where his father was waiting without Hermione Granger.

\--------------

Hermione coughed out the soot she ended up inhaling when she stepped out of the roaring fire place. "Better than flying, I suppose." She waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark and damp place she stepped in to but she soon realized that it was too dark for her eyes to adjust fully. The only light was an eerie glow from some of the objects in the room and Hermione's fear of Draco tripping her up and saying the wrong location was confirmed. Feeling around the fireplace, she tried to locate floo powder to floo over to the Leaky Couldron or back to Malfoy manor. In the middle of her search, a curtain was pushed aside to reveal a stooping man with hair so oily it would have rivaled Snape's.

"We don't have floo powder if that's what you're looking for." He studied her for a moment, wondering if he should immediately throw her out until he spotted her coin purse in the faint glow from the cursed objects in the room. "Said the wrong location did you?"

Hermione had swallowed and nodded. The fear of being lost started to settle in and Hermione stammered when she spoke. "Coul-could you tell me where I am?"

The man smiled at her and she could see he was missing teeth as he was standing next to a blue glowing object. "Borkin and Burkes located down Knockturn Alley."

"Knockturn Alley? I'm not far then," she whispered to herself at first as she realized she was not far from her intended destination. "Could you tell me how to get back to Diagon Alley?"

"You just stepped into the best shop in all of Knockturn Alley and you want to leave?" The shop keeper threw his hands out gesturing to the rest of the store behind him. "It's rude to floo in then leave." He cackled softly as he ushered her to the middle of the store to stand by a gruesome looking hand. She barely had enough time to read 'Hand of Glory' under it before he stopped and turned her around.

"I'm sorry, but I rea-" She started to speak but was cut off.

"Non-sense, at least take a look around. I'm sure you'll find something you'll like. Try not to touch too much though." The man chuckled as he returned to the counter.

Hermione was not a push over but Knockturn Alley had the reputation for holding the most questionable wizards in London and did not want to take the chance of angering the only person she had seen since she flooed to London. She walked around the store, pretending to read the plaques at first so she could discreetly glance at the shop keeper but he kept his eyes trained at her on all times. Her plan was to run out of the store when he was not looking but it did not seem the opportunity was coming. When Hermione discovered this, she started to actually read the plaques and she found a lot of the artifacts to be interesting- and only some sounding dangerous.

Looking at the store's inventory, it seemed that they did not discriminate between dark and regular magical artifacts. They certainly sold uncommon things but she wondered if wizards had exaggerated about the dangers of Knockturn Alley as they exaggerate with nearly everything else in the wizarding world. Hermione stopped in front of a display of quills, a bigger display she had seen in any wizarding shop- including the one that strictly sold school and office supplies. From floor to ceiling, there was quills of all different colors with different designs with several of them having different uses- like a self destroying quill that would burn itself after a note was written (she thought that to be useful to someone of questionable character), a cheaters quill that would regurgitate any notes written with it before hand while you were taking an exam (She thought Ron would love that), but what caught her interest was the quills that claimed they never needed ink. There was a small description explaining that a bottle of ink would never be needed as they had their own supply of never ending ink.

"Do these really not need ink?" The shop keeper walked over to where she was and she made a point to look at his name tag this time.

Mr. Borkin nodded. "Yes, they did not sell well in the other shops- they were designed by a muggle born and most wizards don't like that." He looked at her knowingly as he could sense she herself was a muggleborn. "They were modeled after muggle _pans _or _pins_ or something."

She nodded, understanding he meant pens but did not correct him. Hermione decided that she would buy one but could not decide on what color. She also felt a bit guilty for taking up Mr. Borkin's time so she decided she would buy the last five quills. She knew that it was likely she would lose a few or break them. Looking at the price, she knew they were way more expensive than she would have liked to spend on any quill but reckoned it would be worth it if they acted as well as pens. She had her coin purse with her, one that had been filled when the Ministry transferred her funds around ahead of time, so she would not need to make a stop at Gringotts, and handed him the quills. "I'll take these, then be on my way. I'm sure my friends are worried about me." Hermione was unsure how to refer to the Malfoys but would not even think to refer to them as 'family.'

Mr. Borkin took the quills and wrapped them for her. He hoped that she would have bought more but business had been slow so he would not complain- at least not in front of her. She paid the eight galleons for them and she waited for him to hand her a bag but instead he took out his wand. "Where shall I send them to?"

"Sorry?" No shop had ever asked her before and she was unsure how to respond.

"Where do you live so I may send them to your home? Unless you would like to walk around with them?" He raised an eyebrow at the girl as his usual patrons did not want to be seen with anything from Knockturn Alley, whether it was considered a dark item or not. Borkin already charged her for sending them to her home and would not be giving her a refund if she wanted to carry the purchase instead.

"Oh," Hermione thought for a second but did not want to draw attention to herself by saying she lived with the Malfoys and thought it better to opt to carry the quills. "Er- I'll just-"

"Hermione!" Hermione whipped around to see Harry Potter, Mr. Weasley and Lucius standing at the entrance of the shop.

"Harry!" She automatically ran up to him and threw her arms around him. He returned the hug and Hermione started to silently cry into his shoulder. It was tears of joy although the air was heavy around them as it was not one of their normal reunion hugs. She allowed herself to close her eyes and breathe in Harry's scent- a mixture of clean linen, a very gentle musk with a hint of sulfur. Harry's hug said that he was sorry for the past two months and that he did have a level of understanding on her pain.

Lucius Malfoy cleared his throat after a few minutes and they stepped apart. Hermione wiped her face as she worked on calming herself down. "Are you ok, Hermione?" Mr. Weasley looked at her worriedly and he glanced over to the shop clerk. Who had been silent the who time as he wondered how Lucius was related to the muggleborn in his shop.

"Yes, I had just picked up a few quills for school and was on my way out."

She felt the air around her shift as all three looked at her in shock. "You bought something from here?" Mr. Weasley sighed. "Hermione, this isn't the place you should buy school supplies."

"I can assure you what she bought were nearly normal quills, Mr...?" Mr. Borkin had both hands on the counter with his eyes narrowed at Mr. Weasley as if he was trying to shoot lasers at him.

"Weasley. Arthur Weasley, "Arthur straightened up as he spoke to Mr. Borkin. "I work for the Ministry." Hermione noticed out of the corner of her eye that Lucius rolled his eyes. Hermione felt guilty at slightly agreeing with the gesture knowing what department Arthur was head of and that it was not going to intimidate any nearby dark wizards.

"Mr. Weasley, feel free to take a look around my shop if it would reassure you. The placement of my shop being in Knockturn Alley was an unfortunate coincidence." Mr. Borkin smiled as he placed the tips of his fingers together.

Mr. Weasley glanced around the shop but did not take a step further in. He turned back to Hermione. "I think we should go."

Hermione went to take a step forward to retrieve her quills but Lucius placed his cane in front of her so she could not walk further. "Send them to Malfoy Manor, Borkin. "

Mr. Borkin blinked then looked at Hermione. It appeared something clicked in his head as his eyes flickered back to Lucius. "And I thought the _The Daily Prophet_ had turned into a gossip magazine."

"Let's go." Lucius' jaw flexed as he dramatically swished his cloak as they exited the shop.

Hermione walked with Harry arm in arm as they left Knockturn Alley, as he told her about what had happened at his aunt and uncle's home on Privett Drive.

"Did you _really_ blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione could feel her usual lecturing tone enter her voice as she stared at him. "Honestly, I'm amazed you weren't expelled."

"Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested." His voice got low as he leaned into her so Arthur and Lucius could not hear them. "Mr. Weasley isn't sure why they decided to let this one go when they held me accountable last holiday." Hermione found that to be extremely odd and it caused her to wonder how the Ministry monitored magic used by minors. She made a mental note to ask Dr. Augsen when she saw her again as Hermione thought she should have at least received a warning letter from the Ministry with the magic she was accidentally doing.

Harry had just finished telling Hermione about the Night Bus and the Minister when they emerged from Knockturn Alley, Hermione was immediately swallowed in by the rest of the Weasley family waiting for them. Narcissa and Draco stood off to the side of the family, watching as Hermione was greeted by everyone.

Ginny and Molly both pulled Hermione into a nearly suffocating hug and when they pulled away, Molly grabbed Hermione's face to look her in the eyes. "How are you feeling, dearie? Are you being treated well?"

Hermione pulled her face back so she would not risk feeling overwhelmed from the lack of space. "Of course, Mrs. Weasley."

"I see they haven't straightened your hair yet." George said as he stood to her right.

"Only a matter of time, George, before they dye her hair blonde." Fred added on, standing on the other side of his twin.

Hermione actually _giggled_ as she swatted Fred on his arm, hoping the Malfoys had not heard what they said. "You two better stop that." Hermione had been so depressed for the past two months that she nearly forgot how much she missed the ginger family. They had the most welcoming energy and it was a relief not having to be so proper around them.

Percy, who was on her left side, gave a slight bow. "My condolences, Hermione." Hermione's stomach dropped as she returned the bow but she tried to focus on the positive. "Thank you. Congratulations on getting Head Boy, I think we _all _knew you would get it." When she said 'all' she playfully looked at the twins who were mocking Percy's formal apology by bowing back and forth to each other. When she should have been offended by them mocking the apology, she actually found it to be a relief from the seriousness of it.

Percy's chest puffed up. "Thank you, Hermione. I'm sure only someone who is destined to be Head Girl herself would recognize that."

At this, Fred and George lost it. "All hail future Head Girl!" Fred raised his hands above his head and bowed the upper half of his body towards Hermione.

"Head Boy Percy has anointed Hermione as future Head Girl!" George followed his twin, alternating their bows.

"Will you two just support your brother and stop making fun of him?" Molly hit Fred and George with the rolled up newspaper she had in her hands, no doubt a proud mother.

Hermione had a small smile on her face but was concerned she still had not seen one more Weasley. "Where's Ron?"

Not locating him in the throng of Weasleys in front of her, she looked behind her, to the other side of Harry and saw Ron half hiding himself behind their best friend. He had his hands in his pockets and his head low so he was looking at her through his bangs. She noticed his hair had grown and looked like a red, docile version of Harry's shaggy black hair. "Hey 'Mione." She didn't say anything but pulled him into a hug. He returned it back and they stayed like that for a moment. Hermione realized that Dr. Augsen was right, she needed her friends, gits or not.

When they broke apart, Narcissa used that moment to interject to reminded them all of her presence. "Well, we lost our appointments but we will worry about that later." She ran a hair through Draco's hair roughly and he winced. "May I suggest we head to Madam Malkin's to have the children's robes tailored?" Narcissa walked to stand behind Hermione and cast a Scoring charm on her to get the dirt and soot off. Molly turned to her husband and spoke to him quietly. When Arthur turned to face them all, he herded all of the Weasley children- except Ron- into the main street of Diagon Alley and back into the Leaky Couldron.

Molly gave a polite smile as her eyes flicked between Lucius and Narcissa. The Weasley matron had never spoke an ill word about the Malfoys before the Chamber of Secrets incident as she is a kind-hearted person but underneath her loving exterior Hermione knew she was almost as fierce as Narcissa when she wanted to be. Lucius was unpopular with the Weasley family before but Hermione was sure that Arthur and Molly were only being as civil as they could be now because of Hermione. They knew the truth about how Ginny ended up with the diary and almost losing their only daughter was not something they were going to forget, ever. "The other children have already gotten what they needed, they just wanted to stick around to greet Hermione."

Narcissa glared at Lucius. "How nice it must have been to get here at a reasonable time." Lucius rolled his eyes again but did not say a word.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron followed Narcissa and Molly on to the crowded street with Lucius and Draco walking behind them silently. Hermione was in a positive mood being with her friends again and forced Ron to give her every detail of his trip to Egypt. She found it easy to listen to his summer as it was a great distraction from everything else on her mind.

Hermione was the first to stand on Madam Malkin's stool as to have her robes adjusted. When she was done, Draco went next and while Draco was being fitted, Hermione turned to Harry as a thought came to mind. "Harry were you the one leading Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy through Knockturn Alley?"

Harry nodded and leaned closer to her to no one but Ron could hear them speak. "Remember when I told you I mispronounced Diagon Alley last holiday?" She nodded. "I ended up in the same place. You have no idea how awkward it was walking them to Borkin and Burkes."

"Oh!" She glanced over at Lucius who had been staring at them whispering. She quickly looked away as she returned her attention to Harry. "So that means you saw _them _there." Harry nodded and stood as he was next to be fitted when Draco was done. Draco took Harry's seat but did not acknowledge Hermione was sitting next to him. She turned her attention to Ron who was glaring at Draco. Hermione nudged him, "Staring is rude, Ronald Weasley."

It was nice to tease him again and he rolled his eyes. "How did you end up in Knockturn Alley by the way? I didn't think you'd ever mispronounced anything."

Hermione was reminded of her anger at the blonde boy, and turned to glare at Draco while he looked at her of the corner of his eye. She knew he was probably eavesdropping on their conversation but Draco was hardly subtle when he tried to be sneaky. "You're right Ron, I don't mispronounce anything."

Harry, hearing Hermione's statement but not the context, decided to chime in. "Remember Ron, It's leviOsa, not levioSA." Harry started to laugh but stopped after he was pricked by Madam Malkin's needle.

"Please stay still." The seamstress said through a mouth full of needles.

Hermione crossed her arms as Ron burst in to uncontrollable laughter. "Well, it's good I taught you the proper pronunciation considering what happened that Halloween! I don't think I'll ever forget that smell." Hermione wrinkled her nose as she thought about the terrible smell of the troll they locked her in the bathroom with their first year at Hogwarts.

Narcissa and Lucius shared a look wondering what the Golden Trio was referencing while Draco was trying to remember what happened their first year on Halloween. Molly, not liking that she did not know what they were talking about, was the only one who spoke up. "What happened on Halloween?"

Hermione looked at Ron, eyebrows raised in a question. Harry stared at them through the mirror as Madam Malkin hemmed his robes, then she stood up. "You're done."

Harry walked slowly back to Hermione and Ron where Molly now had her hands on her hips. "Ronald Weasley, why aren't you answering me?"

"You didn't tell her how you saved my life and how we became best friends?" Hermione was trying to put the story in a positive light before Molly had the chance to completely lose it as they stepped out on to Diagon Alley again, but Ron took Hermione's words offensively.

"Like you told your muggle parents about it? It's not everyday a troll..." Ron, thinking about how Hermione's parents had a hard time wrapping their head around their daughter being a wizard let alone trolls being real, instead of remembering how they were no longer alive, did not realize what he said until the words were already out of his mouth. Immediately everyone got quiet as they stared at him. He looked at her wide eyes as he watched her face crumble. "Hermione..."

Hermione felt her bottom lip tremble. She could forgive Ron for his slip at mentioning her parents but a realization hit her; He was right, she never told her parents about anything they did, knowing they would want to pull her out of Hogwarts. She couldn't handle the thought of being untruthful and started to rub her temples trying to stop herself from thinking about it.

"Hermione, I-" Ron touched her lightly on the arm but she pulled back.

"Shut up, Weasley, can you not see she's trying to calm down?" Hermione wanted to chastise Draco for snapping at Ron but was secretly grateful as she was able to focus on not spiraling into a panic attack.

After counting down from twenty she looked up to Narcissa, avoiding all eyes from the three boys standing next to her as her own was still watery. "Where to next?"

"Let's split up." Narcissa was going to dismiss the Weasley's as Ron had almost sent Hermione into a meltdown but Lucius spoke first as he put his hand on Narcissa's lower back. In the public eye they often let him come off as the dominant one in their relationship but that did not stop Narcissa from shooting him another glare.

"That's a great idea. We started shopping later than was intended and if we want to be out of here before the afternoon crowd fully set in, it would be best. I believe the children should be fine getting their school supplies on their own while we get their books?"

Molly looked between Hermione and Ron but decided to agree with Lucius. "Yes, I suppose that would be fine. Ronald, mind your manners will you?" Her hands were still on her hips and her voice was stern. Using Molly as a distraction while she held everyone's attention, Hermione quickly wiped at her eyes since the tears had to go down.

Ron turned even more red but did not argue. "Right."

Narcissa used her wand to duplicate Draco and Hermione's school supply list and handed it to them, along with a small leather pouch that held money for them both. "We'll meet back here in a little over an hour for lunch. Draco, you better be on your best behavior and Hermione, please remember what I said earlier in regards to us taking care of you. Lucius informed me that you already picked up quills." Her eyes narrowed slightly but did not hold the same anger she held earlier in the day.

"Yes, ma'am."

The adults walked off to Flourish and Blotts without another word with Molly giving nervous glances back at the children.

Hermione turned around to look at Harry and Ron. "Where did Draco go?"

Ron shrugged. "I suppose he thought we should split up too. I don't mind, I'm actually happy the git decided to run off on his own." Harry nodded in agreement as the three went down the busy cobblestone road. Ron looked at Hermione through his bangs while he tried apologizing again. "Hermione, I-"

"Please don't mention it, Ron." She gave a tight smile to show that she was fine. "It's going to take a while to get used to." It was something Dr. Augsen had said once and Hermione held on to it. Getting used to something meant it got easier in it's own respect.

Ron nodded and took a deep breath. They had reached the supply shop, Scribbulus, and Harry held the door open for them as Draco slipped out. Draco met Hermione's eyes for a second but continued his way out, down the opposite way they came. "Git." Ron said under his breath. After they picked up their school supplies, Harry and Ron decided to get ice cream from Forean Fortescue. Hermione was nearly able to get away with not getting a cone until Harry pointed it out. "You're not getting anything, Hermione? It's my treat, you know."

"I know Harry, I'm just not in the mood." She looked at the ice cream and had to resist the urge to lick her lips as it did look enticing, but she already felt inklings of guilt as she thought of giving into her cravings.

"Not in the mood for ice cream? You're mad. I think your hair is pulled back too tight, 'Mione." Ron already had a ring of ice cream all around his mouth and Hermione wondered how someone could be so messy when eating.

Mr. Fortescue, the Ice Cream parlor owner, leaned over the counter to stare at the three. "Or she's sick."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm just not in the mood."

Harry and Ron shared a look before Harry placed the wizard money on to the counter to pay. "She'll have a small strawberry and peanut-butter cone, please."

Hermione glared at Harry as Mr. Fortescue scooped the ice cream for her. "At least let me pay for myself." She started to dig through the coins when Mr. Fortescue handed her the ice cream.

"I gave him enough for all of us, Hermione. Let's go- you said you wanted to buy an owl when we were in the last shop?" Harry held the door open while they exited the parlor.

Hermione bit into the ice cream and allowed herself to enjoy the sweet before letting her guilt take over. Sweets were another thing she realized she missed. "Yes, it's rather inconvenient to try and get an owl from the owlery at Hogwarts every time I need one." Unlike the Malfoy's 'owlery' Hermione could feel her legs turn into jello with every step she took, getting higher and higher up the tower. "I mean, you have Hedwig, Ron has Errol-"

"I haven't." Interrupted Ron. "Errol is a family owl, one that seems to be on his last leg. All I have is Scabbers and I want to have him checked out. I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

"'Magical Menagerie' has owls." Harry pointed to the shop across from the ice cream parlor. "They'll also be able to check over Scabbers. I've spent a lot of times in the shops around here since I got to the Leaky Couldron and I am sure that would be your best bet to find anything for Scabbers."

After they all finished their ice cream, Hermione and Ron followed Harry into the shop. There was very little space due to the cages and the shop smelled horrible due to all of the creatures, but Hermione actually preferred it to the bustling street outside. While Ron and Harry talked to the witch at the counter about Scabbers, Hermione went to the far wall to look at the owls. She knew nearly an hour had passed and did not want to keep Narcissa waiting. Hermione looked over the various breeds like the Barn owl, the Screech owl, the Snowy owl, and the Barred owls. Some of them stared back at her while some hissed at her. She kept walking until she came to the end of the display and heard a soft hoot.

She bent over to look into a cage that was nearly hanging off the floor to see the only Great Horned owl in the store. The owl hooted again at her and walked to the edge of the cage towards her. "Hello, there." She looked at the bird and found her to be a unique beauty; its great ear tufts were black and it continued down the owls back while it's front was a brown that had a hint of red tinge to it. There was random black feathers that would poke through the brown but it's breast was a flawless white. She smiled at the Great Horned Owl, taking the small cage off of its hook and walked back to the front of the store.

When she got to the front of the shop, Ron was attempting to buy a small potion for Scabbers when something huge and orange came crashing down on to the witches counter in front of them. "NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" The witch tried to hold Scabbers out of the half-kneazle's reach but Scabbers slipped out of her hands and into the street where Ron and Harry chased after him.

Thankfully, Hermione had placed the owl on the witch's counter so Hermione was able to catch Crookshanks when he tried to follow Ron and Harry out. "Shhhh, it's alright. Scabbers doesn't even look tasty, why would you want him?" The kneazle looked into her eyes and Hermione felt her eyes dilate as she looked into what she thought was the cutest cat in the world. "Well, you're absolutely beautiful." The kneazle purred in response and Hermione cooed at it.

The shop keeper watched the thirteen year old with a tired look. There was a lot of words she would have used to describe the half Kneazle but beautiful was not one of them. "What will it be today, miss?"

Hermione looked up at the witch, forgetting she was there. She looked between Crookshanks and the Horned Owl who hooted at her again. She bit her bottom lip thinking. "How much for both?"

Hermione was in the middle of paying for the animals and picking out treats when she felt a figure stand behind her. She did not glance back, assuming it was Harry or Ron and continued to look at the various treats the witch had offered her.

"Granger, what are you doing?" Hermione whipped around to see Draco Malfoy, with a new hair cut, sticking a finger into the cage of the half- kneazle where Crookshanks allowed Draco to pet him.

"I thought you said we weren't to talk outside of the manor?" Hermioned selected two random packages, one for each creature before handing the witch the money owed. "And what happened to your hair?" Hermione couldn't decide if she found it to be a better hairstyle or not. It was very different from his slicked back hair, which made him look like an extremely young Lucius, but still made his look like a prat.

"I meant when we got to Hogwarts." He grumbled and eyed the half kneazle. "Father hates cats."

"Well this half-kneazle is already paid for." She reached for the cages so she could leave the shop with them but he grabbed her hands.

"He hates cats to the point he will _dispose _of _this half-kneazle_ if you try to bring it to the manor." She eyed Crookshanks with a worried look. "Have the shop keeper send the cat off."

Hermione looked at him again. "What?"

Draco rolled his eyes dramatically. "Seeing as you're carrying your school supplies, you don't know and Weasley was to poor to even think about telling you." She opened her mouth to defend Ron but Draco continued to talk. "It's a service you can pay extra for in the Diagon Alley shops. They use an advanced banishing spell to send your items back home so you aren't stuck carrying them all day. Most wizards cannot perform the spell like mother can so the shops usually offer the service." Draco looked at the witch behind Hermione. "That _is _something you do here?"

The witch narrowed his eyes, not liking his tone. "Of course. It would be eight galleons for both."

Hermione crossed her arms, not liking his tone either. "I know what it is, Mr. Borkin explained that to me. I just don't think it's safe with creatures."

Draco's pale eyebrows went up. "You went into Borkin and Burkes? And _bought_ something?" Draco would have never thought goody-two shoes _Hermione_ of all people would buy anything in Knockturn Alley. Even Draco hated going with his father, but never let Lucius see it.

"Yes." She placed her hands on her hips. "After you sent me there by making me mispronounce Diagon Alley!"

Draco scowled and looked as if he was going to reply to Hermione but stopped himself. Turning to look at the shop keeper, he asked her a question. "Is it safe for you to banish the kneazle and the owl to Malfoy manor?"

The witch was leaning on the counter watching them talk back and forth. "Aye."

Draco fished in his own coin bag for the galleons and Hermione tried to protest. "I can pay for it."

"Granger, consider it pay back for the other day." He looked away after putting the coins on the counter and lowered his voice as he said the next part: "And an apology for messing up your pronunciation when you tried to floo." The witch took the galleons and walked to the back of the shop with both cages. Hermione knew she was staring at Draco like he had physically slapped her but she could not help it as she always thought of the Malfoys to be the type of family to deal with the consequences rather than apologize for what they did. When he looked back up at her and saw her face he scowled, regretting saying anything at all. "So, Swot, since you seem to know everything, how are we going to get past _them_?" He nodded his pointed chin over his shoulder, towards the door where a crowd of reporters were standing against the glass doors of the shop.

"Where did they come from?" Hermione's jaw dropped as she saw camera's start to flash when one of the reporters spotted her looking at them. "Why don't they just come in?"

"Because they're not allowed to enter the shops in Diagon Alley without the shop owner's permission." The witch returned to the counter. "Did they follow you here, boy?" The witch looked Draco up and down, wondering who he was to cause such a crowd of reporters to appear.

"My _name_ is Draco Malfoy." He returned the witch's look but turned to look at Hermione as she had asked about the reporters first. "When I left Madam Diamanda's after getting my hair cut, I was cornered by one of the reporters asking me about you. I don't know what he would want with someone like you but when I tried to leave, he just kept following me, asking questions. Then another reporter did the same and then another until I had to deal with that." He waved an arm at the door.

Hermione paled once the realization hit that the reporters wanted to talk to her. She had thrown out all of the issues she had of _The Daily Prophet_ but not without looking through them all to discover she had been in nearly every single issue- whether it was a small piece or front page. "I can't talk to them. I shouldn't be that big of news, anyway. Should they not be more worried about Sirius Black?" Hermione looked between Draco and the witch, shaking her head. Draco didn't answer and the witch shrugged.

"Come on, there's a back entrance I'll take you out of." Hermione and Draco started to follow the witch but then she stopped to glare at Draco. "Not. You."

"Wha-" Draco was so surprised he took a step back.

"You brought them here, and you're going to lead them away so she can escape without being harassed. It's a shame what happened to her and she shouldn't have to deal with a horde of reporters because of it." Hermione looked at the witch with both gratitude and shock that she knew who Hermione was but did not want to inquire any questions about the details of her life.

Malfoy scoffed and walked away, starting to exit the store when a familiar black haired boy with his ginger best friend fought through the reporters to get in. "Move it, Malfoy." Harry glared as he passed the blonde.

Harry and Ron raced over to Hermione's side. "Did you see the reporters outside, 'Mione? I swear, we spend two minutes trying to catch Scabbers, here," Ron lifted his hands that were cupped together around his rat. "And when we turn back, there's nothing but reporters! What do you think they want?"

"Do you live under a rock, Weasley?" Draco returned to stand by the counter to mock the boys. "_The Daily Prophet_ is trying to have a field day with Granger here for _obvious_ reasons."

"I thought you said you didn't know what they wanted with me, Malfoy?" Hermione crossed her arms again as Draco leaned against the counter.

"Figures the only book you haven't read was a dictionary- it was meant as an insult. Unlike Weasel here, I live in a manor- not under a rock- so I knew exactly what they are here for."

Ron turned red but chose to ignore Draco's bait for once. "Then, we'll escort you out and Harry can talk to them. I mean, he's famous, too." Ron looked between Harry and Ron. While the sentiment was sweet she could not stop thinking about the last part he stated. She didn't want to be famous. There were times that being around Harry was uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting. She did not want that at all.

"Do you think if I was to talk to them once, that would help? Then they'll go away?" She glanced at the door and the cameras went off again. Her breathing became faster and her mouth went dry. She thought about her suite and how she wanted to lock herself in again with the chair propped against the door.

"I thought you were smart, Granger. They'll only comeback for more, and it'll be twice as bad when they do." Draco shook his head, a sneer that was not unlike Lucius' was on his face but it was wiped off as the witch pointed to the door.

"OUT! How dare you talk to her like that?!" The witch grabbed Hermione's hand as she continued her walk towards the back of the shop. "Come here, you two can follow me- We're going out the back." The witch took Hermione, Harry and Ron down a small stair well where she unlocked a old, wooden, green door. "This door is going to open to a alleyway that leaves you right by Gringotts. I can trust you two can get her to where she needs to be safely?" Harry and Ron nodded. Satisfied, the witch opened the door and motioned for them to hurry though. The door slammed shut behind them and Hermione jumped with the thud of the lock locking behind them. Her heart was beating fast but she forced herself to take even breaths.

Harry gave her a small smile but his eyes held concern for her as he watched her labored breathing. "Never a dull moment."

Ron laughed and Hermione couldn't help but crack a small smile. As much as she loved seeing her friend's she couldn't help but think that her energy had been zapped and she wanted to be alone again.

The trio walked down the alleyway and Hermione flipped her hood up after she linked her arm with Ron's. He gave her a questioning look as they never walked like that and she pulled her hood further over her head. "I'm trying not to draw attention to us. They're looking for a frizzy hair girl with three Malfoys, not a shy girl and a ginger."

He nodded, a slight pink tinge on his cheeks but Hermione told herself it was from the additional heat that they were feeling from being so close. Harry walked in front of them as they made their way back to Madam Malkin's. They could see Molly, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco all waiting for them but Narcissa was chastising Draco for having is hair cut so short since most of it lay flat above his ears when it was down to his jawline before.

Lucius was first to greet them and he did so with a raised eyebrow. "We were just about to send a search party."

Narcissa whipped her head around and locked eyes with Hermione. Hermione blushed and pulled the hood back down so it rested on her shoulders. She let go of Ron and walked past Harry to stand in front of Narcissa. "I'm sorry ma'am for being late, we ran into rep-"

"THERE SHE IS!"

Hermione looked to her left and was almost immediately blinded by a single flash, except the first flash seemed to continue forever as the camera's went off back to back, seeming as if it was one big light that kept flickering in front of her. Hermione turned away, putting her face into the crook of her elbow but it did nothing to block out the yelling.

"Hermione Granger! Look here!"

"How does it feel to be in the top ten percent of the wealthy wizarding families in the world?"

"Hermione Malfoy, do your think your parents would have been happy with the family who adopted you?"

"Is it awkward having your blood status and being raised by former Dea-"

"Aqua Eructo!" Hermione blinked away the spots from her eyes to look over and see Lucius with his wand out and pointed at the reporters who were now soaking wet and trying to save their ruined cameras. "That's enough I think." One of the reporters threw his ruined camera to the ground and took a few steps forward, mouth open to say something but Lucius merely shifted his wand to point at him. "We're not answering questions at this time." The reporter backed off, deciding he wouldn't have the time to pull out his wand out on time to defend himself if he were to duel Lucius. Lucius looked over to his wife, "Let's go home."

Narcissa gave a single nod and turned to Molly. "I appreciate you for accompanying us today but I would have to decline your offer to take Hermione to King's Cross Station tomorrow."

Molly looked at Hermione then at the reports. "Well, that's understandable. Maybe next time." Molly hugged Hermione and felt something be slipped into her pocket. "From Arthur."

"Thank you." Hermione whispered into Molly's ear before letting her go. Hermione had an idea what it was but refused to look at it outside of the confines of her bedroom. She turned around and grabbed Ron and Harry into a group hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, 'Mione." Harry said as he and Ron let go. Ron was too busy glaring at the Malfoys to reply and had to be pulled away by Harry after Molly swatted Ron with the newspaper she had.

Hermione looked at the reporters, then at Lucius. While she chose to show a lot more respect to Narcissa than she did to Lucius, she knew it would have been beneath her not to acknowledge any help he gave her. "Thank you."

Lucius looked at her, completely surprised that she would say such a thing to him. Lucius put his unreadable mask back on as he gave a quick nod then strode off, leading them to an open place so they could apparate back to Malfoy Manor.

\--------------

Hermione sat in her room, her stomach filled with the dinner that she, Lucius and Narcissa shared. When they had gotten home, Narcissa informed Draco was to not join them for dinner and Lucius steered Draco into his study. She thought their initial dinner was awkward but being alone with Narcissa and Lucius was the most uncomfortable experience she had yet at the manor. Hermione had not seen Draco at all after Lucius took him to his study and felt terrible about the punishments he had received, even if it was from his own doing.

Hermione thought about fetching something herself from the kitchen to sneak to him when she looked at her desk and saw that her left over apple and almonds from her brunch were still there. Feeling as if luck was on her side, Hermione put on her slippers and put the apple into her pocket so she could carry the small bowl of mostly fresh nuts. Crookshanks lifted his head when he saw her leaving and her owl hooted. "You can't come with me." Crookshanks meowed loudly and the owl flapped it's wings at her giving a loud squawk. "Crooks, you'll be turned into a new hat and you will be too loud flying through the manor." Hermione pointed at each one as she spoke. Crookshanks jumped on to her bed, defeated as he kneaded her pillow to be comfortable and the Horned Owl turned to fly into the night, out of her open window. Hermione closed the bedroom door, dreading leaving her room once more.

It was only when she stepped outside of her suite did she stop to think that she did not know exactly where Draco's bedroom was. Hermione knew it was one hall over but knew that a manor of this size could have her checking rooms for nearly an hour before finding the right one. Hermione checked the first three rooms in the hallway she knew Draco was in but did not find him. On her way to the fourth door she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and started to panic. She tried two more doors but they were locked. In her panic she opened the next door to find Draco sitting on his bed, reading their potions book for the year as he stroked her horned owl's chest. He looked up at her and opened his mouth to speak but stopped when she put a finger over her lips and ran into his bathroom before the owner of the footsteps could open the door.

Draco was startled when Hermione came into his room but was even more surprised when his mother came in. His mother never visited his room and his stomach turned as he wondered why Hermione was running from her. He did not have too much time to dwell on it as Narcissa spoke softly while she sat on his bed. "I've never seen this owl before."

"Granger got him today." He paused and let a smirk pull at one corner of his mouth, wondering if Hermione could hear them. "I reckon he likes me more than her though."

Narcissa smiled, placing her gaze on Draco instead of the owl. "How are you feeling?"

Draco's smirk disappeared. "Hungry." He knew he should not be sassing his mother but he spoke without thinking, the light headedness he felt made sure of that. While brunch was a big meal, one that was made to stave the hunger off until an even bigger dinner, it was not a big enough meal to hold a growing thirteen year old all day.

"Well, it's a good thing you'll be having a big breakfast tomorrow before we see you off, but you know I was talking about after seeing your father" Narcissa sighed and looked away. She could never get used to the feeling of having to punish Draco, it was big reason why she left the discipline to Lucius. Narcissa always found it to be a odd contradiction when she compared herself to the person she was before he was born. "That's not what I meant though."

Draco understood she was asking if he needed healing after visiting his father. "I'm fine."

"Draco, you know I love you right?" Narcissa look at her son, when she said she would take of Hermione, she did not lie to Lucius but she did not specify what she meant. Narcissa wanted Draco to grow up strong- not hateful like she was. Her hate nearly destroyed her relationship with her own sister, something she regretted everyday. When Fudge said Hermione would be staying with them, she saw it as an opportunity to teach him that while they had a name to uphold, it could be a name changed for the better.

Draco felt his face soften at her words. Not even Narcissa said she loved him more than a handful of times a year and it left a hungrier feeling than only having one meal a day. "I love you too."

Narcissa smiled at him again and cupped his cheek. "I just wanted to check in on you before tomorrow, this year is going to be... different." Draco knew they were now talking about Hermione and he once again wondered how much she could hear as he never had anyone hide in his bathroom before. A stray thought entered his mind as he realized that until now, he never had a girl in his room. He felt his cheeks go pink at the thought of Hermione Granger being the first girl in his room. His mother took the color in his cheeks a different way as she had no clue they were not completely alone. "Do you hate her?"

He blinked once, not registering her question for a moment as he was caught up in his own thoughts. When he did process her question, he gave the answer he was taught to give. "Of course, I do. She has no right to go to any wizarding school yet-"

Narcissa withdrew her hand and her usual mask was back on her face. "Yet you will tolerate her. You will not make her life harder than it already is, Draco." Draco had not expected that reaction from his mother but found himself nodding at her. Her voice was not cold but it was demanding and Draco was brought back to the conversation in his father's study earlier that day, when he was finally given the whole story on why Hermione was living with them. Draco had expected only to be beaten as punishment for his actions - which he was - but not as much as usual. Between the unusual actions of his mother and father, Draco was left wondering what his mother had planned for Hermione since his father did not seem to fully know either. Draco thought about asking his mother now but thought it best to watch for a bit to see what his mother would do. Narcissa sighed when she stood to leave his room. "I'll see you in the morning." She left without another word being said between either of them and Draco was left with Hermione on his own.

Draco counted to sixty three times before getting up and walking towards his bathroom. "What are you doing in my room?" He kept his voice low in case his mother decided to come back into the room.

He had assumed Hermione could not hear him and his mother as she did not immediately come out when the door closed but when Hermione stepped out of the dark, she looked angry. She thrust the bowl towards him and when he looked down, he was surprised to see almonds. "I hope you're fine eating almonds and an apple from someone you think is beneath you." Hermione's anger was directed towards herself for letting his feelings annoy her but she did not bother to hide it. Hermione's owl flew hooted and she pointed a finger at him. "You think you're clever, do you?" The owl puffed out a chest and flew to the foot of his bed so she was closer to them.

Draco took the bowl she had thrusted at him and barely looked up in time to catch the apple she tossed at him. She had her arms crossed and focused her gaze on her owl while she calmed herself down. "I-"

"Don't. It's payback." She glanced at him, starting to feel her anger slowly ebbing away as she looked a his genuinely surprised face. She was not used to seeing Draco show any emotions other than anger, fear or disgust and she found him interesting to watch when he was not being an arse.

"For?" He took a bite of the apple and wanted to groan with how good it tasted after being empty for most of the day.

She pointed at the apple. "The apple I stole from you in the maze..." Then she pointed to the almonds. "And then for returning my cube."

Draco stopped chewing for a moment, surprised only for a second that she knew it was him who returned it. He recovered quickly realizing that she did not have many choices to choose from in who may have returned it so it was bound to be an easy guess. "I returned the cube to you in partial thanks of stopping my father out side of the maze." He walked back to his bed and returned to his textbook as he ate. "I would have never returned it other wise."

"I see." Draco ignored her as he read and he didn't look up again until he felt her weight sink into the far end of his King-sized bed. Looking up, he saw Hermione sitting at the end, playing with her cube. He narrowed his eyes in anger. "What are you doing, mudblood?" While he did not completely lie to his mother when he said he hated her, that did not mean he liked her anymore than he had last year when he talked about the basilisk targeting her.

She glared at him and she resented that she felt bad for him in the first place seeing that he had no intention of acting anything else other than an ungrateful prat. "I'm waiting for you to finish eating to bring the bowl and core to my room since you're not supposed to be eating." Draco was surprised again at her thoughtfulness but chose not to respond as he shifted lower into his pillows so the textbook blocked his view of her. They were quite for a while, with only the sound of Draco's loud munching to fill their ears.

When he had finished the apple and was half way through the almonds, he sat up, throwing his book to his side. "What are you going to name them?" He decided if his mom wanted him to tolerate her, he would try.

Hermione looked up from her cube with a questioning expression on her face. Draco put his head in his hand that was propped up by his leg as he sat cross legged. "The Kneazle and owl."

"Oh." She shifted so her body was somewhat facing him now. "Well Crookshanks, the half-kneazle, was already named but I haven't decided on a name for the owl."

"Hm, ok." He finished off the almonds, then pushed the bowl with the apple core in it in front of her. "You should name it Scorpius." The owl squawked her option at Draco, throwing her wings high into the air.

She started to laugh but stopped seeing that he was serious. She scrunched up her nose trying to cover up her laugh with a slight tease. "That's so Malfoy!" He leaned forward and placed the empty bowl and core between them. Hermione found herself wondering how he could call her a mudblood one moment then be civil the next. "And it's a girl." Hermione stroked the owl's chest thinking. "I think... I'll name her Persephone." Persephone nuzzled Hermione's hand and gave her a love bite.

"You're going to name her Persephone? Is that on purpose?" Draco let his head fall to the side as he stared at the owl's reaction to being named.

"On purpose?" Hermione's eyebrows came together as she looked back at Draco. She noticed his hair had a slight curl to it now that his hair product had started to wear off.

His gray eyes met her brown ones, realizing that she genuinely did not know. "Our owls are named after the main Greek gods."

"Oh." Hermione blinked and turned to Persephone. "I don't reckon you'll want to change it?" Persephone threw her wings up at the idea. "Persephone it is." They sat quietly for a moment, until Hermione got up to leave. Half-way to the door she stopped to look back at him. He had his text book in his lap again but he was watching her, looking away when she turned so she did not know he was staring.

"Starting tomorrow, we act as if nothing has changed." He didn't reply as she slipped out of the room. Draco felt a lot of different emotions at the moment, some being confusion and disgust but those were mixed in with disappointment and relief. He knew he was disappointed that she wanted to go through with what he said earlier- which caused the disgust to kick in as he was raised to hate people like her. The mix of emotions caused him to be confused that he would feel that way but he was relieved he would not have to worry about her since she wanted to remain enemies. Hermione slipped out of his room without allowing his to get a word in, although he was unsure how to reply if he wanted to.

He tossed the text book on to the floor and looked up at the ceiling thinking about what his mother said. It was not just this year that was going to be different, it was the _first_ year things would be different.


	9. Year Three: Hogwarts Express

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving y'all.
> 
> TW: Depression mention, Flashback mention, Dissociation, Sexual acts implied.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"Dr. Augsen- He's in a meeting! You can't go in there!"

"You're mistaken to think you can tell me what I can and can not do." Dr. Augsen dodged the intern who attempted to block her way by stepping in her path.

Cornelius Fudge's secretary looked up at hearing what her intern was saying and stood up. "Doctor, the Minister is in a very important meeting with the head editor of _The Daily Prophet_"

"Good," Dr. Augsen did not slow down her stride and pulled the newspaper from under her arm. "I need to speak to them both."

Before Dr. Augsen could reach the door, the secretary pulled out her wand and cast a quick_ Mobiliarbus _so her wooden desk was now in front of Fudge's door. "I can not allow you to disrupt their meeting." The secretary nervously glanced around. She was still in her first month of her new position and hoped someone would come to her aid as she failed to call security before moving her desk away from her.

Dr. Augsen glared at the other witch, "It's a shame that the Ministry has had budget cuts in every department but the one for the Minister and his Support Staff. But even with all that money saved for our Level One Staff, they couldn't hire someone to keep your desk in one place." Dr. Augsen grinned. "I can help with that, though. Consider it a congratulations gift on the new position." Dr. Augsen pulled out her wand, not letting the secretary respond. Dr. Augsen cast her own silent_ Mobiliarbus _so the desk was back in it's original place. She released her first spell and Dr. Augsen walked around the desk, placing one of the charms her family insisted on using on nearly everything in their home. "There, with the permanent sticking charm in place, your desk should have no issues sliding about."

The secretary stared slack jawed as Dr. Augsen turned around and cast a quick_ Alohamora _to open Fudge's office door.

Dr. Augsen quickly slipped inside and kicked the door shut as Minister Fudge jumped in his seat and leaned forward in an attempt to look casual. "Dr. Augsen, did my secretary not tell you I'm busy?"

Dr. Augsen took a deep breath and laced her fingers in-front of her. "She did. She said you were in a meeting with Rita Skeeter but I was unaware it was being held underneath your desk."

Fudge looked down at Rita with an expression of fury and guilt on his face, both emotions from being caught. He nodded his chin to her lime green blazer and white, button-down, shirt that was on the floor, signaling for her to get dressed. He then looked at his softening member and spoke without looking at Dr. Augsen. "Can you turn around to provide me some decency?"

Dr. Augsen bit her inner cheek to stop from laughing and commenting that he did not have decency to begin with. "I'm afraid I can not do that as it leaves me open to being hexed. I would offer to step outside but that would cause too many questions and I think we would all like for this to be quick." At that moment, Dr. Augsen heard creaking from outside the room. She looked down to see shadows moving on the other side. Dr. Augsen kicked the door and heard the secretary let out a surprised noise closely followed by the sound of her body weight hitting the floor. "_ Muffliato_." Usually, Dr. Augsen liked to silently cast spells but wanted to make sure her intent was fully clear so it was at it's most powerful. Any black mail material she had on Fudge she wanted to ensure remained only her material. "Are your secretaries usually this annoying?"

Fudge did not answer as he had used his secretary's interruption as an opportunity to become properly dressed again. After he made sure that Rita's Currant Red lipstick was no where to be seen on his beige pants, he met Dr. Augsen's gaze. Rita also stood up at that moment, smoothing out the wrinkles in her Lime Green skirt.

Seeing that Dr. Augsen finally had their full attention, walked forward, unfolding the newspaper she had tucked under her arm so the front page was laid out, and slammed it on to the desk. "What is this?" The picture on the front had been blown up to take up a third of the newspaper. On the front, Molly Wasley, Narcissa Malfoy, a very shocked Hermione and an angry Lucius Malfoy stood. Three seconds later, Lucius pulls out his wand and the picture goes completely black. Dr. Augsen placed both of her palms on his desk, leaning forward, careful not to crush her wand in her right hand.

Fudge was beyond miffed at the lack of respect he had received from one of his employee's and continued to stare at Dr. Augsen. He knew without looking at what she had come to talk to him about as he expected she would bring it up. He underestimated how upset she would be about it though.

"It's today's edition, Mrs...?" Rita had a sulky tone as she sized the therapist before her. If Rita had met the woman on the street, she had the feeling she would still hate her as she did not appear the type to appreciate what had to be done to save that picture from one of the ruined cameras.

"_Dr. _Augsen. Hermione Granger's therapist and social worker." Dr. Augsen returned her attention back to Fudge, calming herself knowing they were now listening to her. "Minister, please understand that this is a hypersensitive case. When you were gracious enough to inform me that reporters were being sent to Hermione for _The Daily Prophet_ to gather more material for your cov-"

"Doctor!" Fudge automatically changed to a vibrant shade of puce. He glanced at Rita who was doing her best at pretending she was not interested in the conversation that was going on between the two.

Dr. Augsen didn't need her medical training to deduce that Rita Skeeter did not know the full details of Hermione's situation. Dr. Augsen let one corner of her mouth tip up- the one Rita couldn't see- to inform Fudge she was aware of the fact. Once the vein in his head made its appearance she continued. "I had asked for you not to try and over whelm her and I am sure the Malfoys did as well. I understand you want to to keep Hermione very close but please respect the fact that she is _my _patient and _this _will not work without my cooperation." Dr. Augsen turned her glare to Rita Skeeter. "Please learn to control your reporters, _Mrs._ Skeeter." Dr. Augsen enjoyed watching the editor's face turn red and decided to continue before leaving. "Funny how you claim to be a blood purist yourself unless it fits your agenda."

Rita Skeeter's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

"You are only able to be unfaithful if you did not have a wizard wedding. How convenient." Dr. Augsen smiled sweetly and Fudge ignored that the fact had applied to him as well.

Fudge was clenching and unclenching his fists at this point, wishing he was able to curse and hex Dr. Augsen where she stood. "Is that all you came to say, Doctor?" He stood and opened the door to his office to dismiss her.

Dr. Augsen carefully watched him walk past her. "Yes, Sir. I'll let you both get back to your,_ ah, _meeting." She strode out, leaving the newspaper on his desk. He watched her until she turned down the hallway to get to the lift and return to her floor. He looked over to his secretary who was so still he was unsure if she was breathing. Her intern was also standing still, but twirled her ponytail nervously as she stood to the right of the secretary's desk. "Marilynn?" The secretary stood at attention. "Clean your desk, you are being demoted to your previous position in level three. Hold interviews for someone to fill the open secretary spot." He nearly disappeared back into his office but poked his head out one more time. "And make sure you hire someone who knows how to call security when needed." He slammed the door but not before she burst into tears.

Rita Skeeter was sitting on the front of his desk, blouse already unbuttoned again. He walked over to her and pushed her skirt higher up her thighs. She snaked her arms around his neck so he was forced to step closer. "It's always better when you're angry, Mr. Minister." She tried to give a sexy, girlish, giggle but she sounded like the home wrecking forty-something year old she actually was.

"Is it now?" He grinned and pulled her closer by her legs so their meeting could continue with no further interruptions.

\--------------------------------------------

Hermione sat with her head in her hands, holding the letter from Arthur Weasley. Her headache caused by the stress of its contents made her feel like her head was going to split open. She groaned and leaned forward even further into her lap. "Why did you expect him to enchant a record player to not use electricity when he could not even put a proper disillusionment charm on a car." She whispered furiously to herself trying to drown out her thoughts that came at her rapid fire telling her that she was not only stupid, but that her parents would be livid for letting someone ruin their record player. She had been selfish that she had not even stopped to think about what may have gone wrong. Hermione looked at the letter again and tried her best to focus on the words through her tears. _Not sure what happened... Was unable to put it back together after enchanting it... Thought a simple reparo would fix it._ She screamed in frustration and ripped the paper to shreds.

Narcissa walked into the foyer when she heard the scream. "Hermione? What happened?" She imagined Hermione regularly had melt downs but never witnessed one as she was often soft spoken, polite, and too depressed to express anything else.

Hermione, in her anger, started to pace back and forth, hand rubbing her head. She stopped to motion to the letter shredded on the ground. "You would think the _Department Head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts_ would know how to enchant something!" She wanted to sob from how pathetic she felt.

Narcissa looked at the paper on the floor, pulling out her wand and cast her spell in a soft tone. "_Papyrus Reparo_." Slowly the pieces of the letter glided together again as if it was never ripped apart. The letter lazily floated over to Narcissa who plucked it from the air to read it. Hermione's anger had mostly turned into fear as she slowed her pacing to watch the letter repair itself. She purposefully kept the record player secret from the Malfoys because she did not imagine them reacting well to something muggle being placed in their home. Narcissa looked up from the paper, her nose scrunched. "What is a record player? When did you ask him to get you one."

Hermione twisted the edge of her Hogwarts sweater as she spoke. "Well, it's this... machine where you put these black disc-like objects to play music. "When I asked Mr. Weasley to help me gather some of my parent's possessions after the funeral... I gathered some of the discs but asked Mr. Weasley to enchant the record player so-so it wouldn't have to run off of electricity." She rubbed her nose on her sleeve and continued to look at her shoes, waiting for Narcissa to reprimand her.

"It sounds like a gramophone." Hermione looked up to see Narcissa burning the letter and vanishing the ashes. "I hope you did not want that, burning letters after reading is a habit I never seemed to break."

"No, ma'am." Hermione continued to mess with the edge of her sweater but was able to look at Narcissa without completely cringing. "I'm sor-"

Narcissa held up a finger. "I told you that verbal thanks is something I find insulting and saying you are 'sorry' is just as bad. Hermione, when I said to ask us for anything, I mean it. Do not bother Mr. Weasley again as I'm sure we can provide more than he can." Narcissa turned to head back into the hallway she emerged from. "Gather your things together in your suite so I can have Crewe bring them to King's Cross Station."

"Yes ma'am." Hermione wiped her face one last time before going up the stairs and into her room. She hardly unpacked in the first place so all she needed to do was move her Hogwarts things from her room into her suite. Before doing so, she tied a letter to Persephone's leg to deliver to Profesor McGonagall explaining why she was sending her owl ahead of her. "It's going to be a long flight so take breaks when you need to, OK?" The owl nuzzled her hand before taking off.

Her headache was bad before but it was worse now as she moved her things into the suite with one eye closed from the pain. She heard the suite door open then close and turned to see Draco throw himself into one of the chairs by her fireplace. "Were you ever told that it was polite to knock before entering someone's room?"

Draco shrugged as he put a hand down to pet Crookshanks who walked up to him. "I figured I would tell you my idea on how to sneak Crookshanks by my Father." She would have raised an eyebrow but her headache- which was now turning into a migraine- prevented her from doing so.

"I sent Persephone off so I can place Crookshanks in her cage with a cover over the top. If you have anything better, please do tell." She crossed her arms as she sat in the chair across from him and be bent forward to pet Crookshanks with both of his hands. "And not to be rude, but why-?"

"I like animals. They're better than humans." She eyed him warily, not sure of what was the reasoning behind his answer. "I had the same idea... Although it would be better if I were to carry him in Ha- my owl's cage." Draco looked up at her to watch her reaction. "His cage is bigger and Crookshanks is no kitten."

"You would have to carry him though."

"I can watch a cat until we get to Hogwarts, Granger." As if to further prove his point, Crookshanks rolled on to his back so Draco could pet his stomach. Draco thought about what his mother and father said until he fell asleep last night. Lucius explained that he had promised Narcissa that he would not do anything to harm Hermione as Narcissa was to be the one to bring Hermione to her ruin. After Narcissa's visit last night, Draco was sure that she either wanted Draco to stay out of her way or Narcissa genuinely wanted them to be civil, even at Hogwarts. What he did know for sure, was that Narcissa had no clue Lucius told Draco about her plan and how they were blackmailed by the Ministry.

"No." Hermione resumed her previous position of her head in her hands, as her stress levels grew so did the migraine.

Draco rolled his eyes even though she could not see. "Is your hardheadedness getting to you? You do understand my father will kill your cat, right?"

"Sod off, Malfoy." Hermione groaned into her hands but could hear the sound of someone coming up the stairs and passing her hall, presumably to go into Draco's hall.

Draco heard it also, and grabbed his owl's cage he had brought with him, opening up the cage door. "Come on, Crooks, you may not like it but it'll only be for the day." The Half-Kneazle huffed but stalked into the cage. Draco pulled down the custom velvet custom cage cover that had a silver embroidered Malfoy crest over it so no one could see inside. The cover was also enchanted with a silencing charm so the creature underneath it could not be heard, leaving Crookshanks the freedom to meow if he pleased. Hermione wanted to argue with him further but the migraine was so crippling that she started to quietly whimper from it. Hermione recognized a flashback was probably going to come but continued to fight it.

Hermione heard Draco stand up and walk towards the door but it opened before he could reach it.

"Oh, Draco." Narcissa looked between her son and Hermione who was folded in on herself. She narrowed her eyes at her son, wondering if it was his doing. "I had no clue you were in here."

"I was just about to search for you mother, she's not well."

Narcissa watched her son as she walked past him and squatted next to Hermione. Narcissa could tell something was amiss as he had placed his free hand in his pants pocket with the thumb sticking out- something he only did when he was hiding something. "Hermione, what is it?"

"My head." Hermione's voice was shaky and she felt herself loosing her fight with the flashback. She refused to open her eyes, afraid of what she would see but could hear a female screaming. With the several flashbacks she experienced over the past two months she found that it always started with a voice screaming and it always led to her realizing it was her that was screaming.

Hermione could faintly hear whispering and feel the pressure release in her head, causing an automatic sigh of relief to escape her. She felt extremely light-headed as she lifted her head and everything still seemed a little too bright. Narcissa watched her carefully as she put her wand back into her dress pocket. "How are you feeling?"

Hermione felt herself sitting but felt like she was sitting beside herself rather than sitting where she actually was. Now that she was asked to focus on herself and give an answer, she realized she felt more than light-headeness. She felt as if her head was filled with cotton and her thinking was extremely slowed- but not in the way that the calming draught did- not in a way she was fond of. Hermione thought of one of her latest session's with Dr. Augsen who informed that Hermione was experiencing dissociation.

"Hermione?" Narcissa spoke again, her eye brows starting to tense.

"I'm feeling better. Did you do something?" Hermione knew she had heard whispering but was unsure what the source was as she still felt caught between her mind and reality.

"I did cast a spell to relieve your headache..." Narcissa watched Hermione for a moment before she remembered they needed to be on their way to King's Cross Station. Narcissa stood and walked over to Hermione's things. "Hermione, is this everything?" The pile Hermione had was less than what Draco brought with him to Hogwarts.

"Yes, Ma'am. I just need my owl..." Hermione spoke softly as her own voice sounded foreign. She was slightly disoriented but was able to manage walking without stumbling into her room. She grabbed Persephone's empty cage and wrapped one of her robes around it.

When she turned, she saw Draco standing in the door way. "Close the door next time." He glanced over his shoulder where his mother had quietly summoned Crewe who was banishing the last few things Hermione owned. Luckily Narcissa's back was to the open door. Hermione blinked slowly but did not respond, causing Draco to raise an eyebrow at her odd behavior. She hated how foggy she felt but could not remember how Dr. Augsen suggested she recenter herself.

"That's everything. Come, we'll be apparating today." Draco and Hermione followed Narcissa side by side. It was easy to do as everything in the manor, including the hallways, main doors and stairs were wide enough for three grown men to walk though and still have comfortable walking space. It was when they reached the bottom of the stairs and Narcissa told them to stay put as she walked off, that Hermione remembered what helped. Closing her eyes she fought hard to concentrate on her thoughts through the cotton headedness. _My name is Hermione Jean Granger. I'm thirteen years old and my birthday is September 19th. I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy and I was sorted into Gryffindor. My best friend's are Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. I live in Ma-_"

"It's a _Black_ thing actually." Draco's bored drawl broke her out of her mental chant but she did feel more like herself already.

"What?" She had her head tilted to the side in confusion.

"Scorpius. You said it was '_so Malfoy_' and I never corrected you." He did air quotes and raised his voice to mock her, but in a teasing way. "It's actually a _Black_ tradition."

"Oh... The tradition, is it naming children after the constellations?" Hermione remembered seeing _Draco_ and _Scorpius_ in their Astrology text book. She found the names to be beautiful but too strong to name someone else them- But she guessed that was probably why a pure blood family like the _Black_s would name their child after them. She was going to let the conversation drop until she remembered another name from their astronomy textbook. "Wait, your mum was a _Black_? As in _Sirius Black_?"

She took a step back from the realization hitting her as Draco crossed his arms. He was raised to be very proud yet very protective of his family and the fondness he reserved for his mother emphasized that. "They're cousins bu-"

"Let's go, we've kept Lucius waiting long enough." Narcissa came back into the room and they left without Draco finishing what he was going to say, which left Hermione to think about what danger she may actually be in if Narcissa was closely tied to Sirius.

\--------------------------------------------

"I need to talk to you in private." Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione as the train started to pick up speed.

Ron told Ginny to find her own compartment to sit in as the Hermione and Harry checked occupied compartment after occupied compartment. Finally, they found a mostly empty compartment that had one sleeping adult in it. The only other adult they had ever seen on the Hogwart's Express was the trolley witch but as they had no other choice, they sat with him.

Hermione carefully looked him over. He was young looking with gray flecks in his brown hair. His robes were more than worn and had patches to cover the holes it once had.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron whispered as he caught up to them and slid the door shut. They sat in the seats furthest from the window the man was sleeping at.

"Professor R. J. Lupin." Hermione immediately whispered back.

"How-"

Hermione pointed up tiredly at the luggage rack where there was a small, battered suitcase that had his name in faded gold lettering.

"Wonder what he teaches?" Ron frowned as he looked over Lupin's attire.

Hermione looked at Ron. "That's obvious. There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway..." Ron turned his attention to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

"First," He opened his suit case and took out two packages messily wrapped in brown paper. "These are for you 'Mione." Hermione looked at him wide eyed and took the packages. She unwrapped the first one, the smaller one, as he continued talking. "I contacted your therapist and she recommended that keeping a journal may be helpful."

Hermione passed a hand over the front cover of the leather bound journal. It was regular leather, not dragon hide and had a purple ribbon for a bookmark. She appreciated how muggle it was and hugged it to her chest smiling. "Thank you, Harry."

"Open the next one!" Ron grabbed the brown wrapping paper she ripped off and crushed it into a ball for her. She grabbed the other wrapped book, this one was twice the size of the journal, and ripped the paper off as quietly as she could to not disturb Lupin.

"I wasn't allowed to go into Muggle London while at the Leaky Cauldron but I asked Mr. Weasley to pick them up for me. I don't know if it'll help but I know you always look in a book for an answer..."

Hermione read the title of the book and hugged it to her chest also. "You got me a workbook on how to deal with loss?" Hermione threw her arms around Harry and started to bawl into his neck from how overwhelmed she felt at the thought he put into her gifts. "Thank you!" He hugged her back and they stayed like that for a few moments more. "I hope this isn't too soon to say but you're family, 'Mione. I'm here for you." Hermione hiccuped and sat back pressing the balls of her hands into her eyes to stop herself from crying harder.

Ron put an arm around her and she leaned into him. "You know we consider you family, too Hermione. You're more than welcome to come to the Burrow for the holidays."

She nodded but didn't remove her hands. "Thank you, so much. Both of you." She rubbed her nose on her robe sleeve and after she calmed down, Harry glanced at Lupin to make sure he was still asleep before filling them in on what he learned about Sirius Black and Mr. Weasley warning him on not to look for Black.

When he finished, Ron looked thunderstruck while Hermione held a hand over her mouth, her doe eyes red but completely dry. She leaned forward after lowering her hand. "If he escaped to come after you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry-"

"I don't go looking for trouble, trouble usually finds me." Harry pushed his hair back absentmindedly, flashing his scar.

"Harry, isn't thick enough to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him." Ron said shakily. He had moved his arm from Hermione and had both of his elbows on his knees. "No one knows how he got out of Azkaban." Ron shifted uncomfortably as he spoke and he didn't meet anyone's eyes. "No one has ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner, too."

Harry swallowed and it turned Hermione's stomach to see her friend so upset. It was always one thing after another for him it seemed. Hermione thought about Draco telling her that Narcissa was related to Sirius and she wondered if it was possible to break out of Azkaban if they had help on the outside. "They'll find him, Harry. They even have muggles looking-"

"What's that noise?" Ron straightened up suddenly.

Hermione immediately stopped talking listening to the faint, tiny whistle that was coming from somewhere. Eventually they found to be Harry's sneakoscope Ron sent him from Egypt, which led the to the topic of Hogsmeade and how Harry was not allowed to go. They talked for hours with their first interruption bring the trolley witch, the second Draco Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, look who it is," said Draco, a sneer already planted on his face. "Potty and the Weasel." Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley."

"Did your mother die of shock?" Grabbe chimed in before his eyes flicked over to Hermione and her books. "Oh wait, that was the mudblood-"

Hermione flung the the workbook so hard at Crabbe that the spine made a cracking sound on contact with the right side of his face. Harry jumped up to restrain Hermione as Ron stood to block Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle from going further into the compartment. Lupin snorted in his sleep and all six students froze looking over at him.

"Who's that?" Draco shook his head to get his hair out of his eyes while he held Crabbe's arms behind him. Hermione found it interesting he thought to hold back his own friend instead of joining the brawl.

Hermione could hear Harry's grin as he replied. "New Teacher. Did you want to continue Malfoy? Crabbe?"

Malfoy pulled Crabbe back completely and put himself in the compartment doorway, he knew better than to be a part of a fight right under a teacher's nose. He looked up at Hermione who was still being held up in the air by Harry, breathing hard from her anger. He slammed the compartment door shut and Harry let Hermione drop to the floor.

Harry and Ron stared at her, finally letting their disbelief show. "Blimey, Hermione, I had no clue you had it in you." Ron picked up the workbook and journal from the floor, placing it on to her seat.

"He had no right, Ron." Her fists shook so hard that her whole body vibrated. She could feel the warmth and crackle of her magic gathering around her. Hot tears prickled in her eyes, tears that were from the rage she felt. She closed her eyes and took deep, slow breaths. _I will not lose my magic over someone like Crabbe._

When Hermione was calm enough she sat down and pulled out her wand. She had started to toy with it almost as much as her cube lately- specifically when she felt like she was on the verge of accidental magic. Rolling it between her palms it helped her conduct the magic that had built up and release some tension from her body.

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year. I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family- or yours-" He pointed at Hermione before slamming a first into his other hand.

"Ron," Hermione pointed her chin at Lupin, not wanting to use her hands as she was still working on controlling her magic. "Be _careful_." Lupin was fast asleep but she was cautious by nature. "And I can handle it." She knew that was partially a lie after the outburst she had but she rather be stressed over taunts than be stressed about her friends fighting for her.

The rain outside started to pick up and Hermione watched it silently for a while before she spoke again. "I'm sorry about throwing your gift, Harry."

Harry was about to bite into a cauldron cake but shook his head at her instead. "I would buy you a hundred books if you could hit each of them as perfectly as you hit Crabbe."

The three of them laughed softly and Ron pointed to the window. "We must nearly be there. The sky is completely black." He barely finished his sentence when the train started to slow down.

"We can't be." Hermione looked at her watch. The band of it was a little frayed but it was her favorite and the most comfortable watch she owned.

A very muffled "So why're stopping?" escaped Ron's sweater as he pulled it over his head.

Slowly the sound of the rain started to get louder as the trains thunks, and whistles died. Harry stuck his head out of their compartment to see other students doing the same. The train finally came to a stop with a jolt with all of the lights going out at once.

"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!" Hermione pushed her friend away to get her foot out from under him.

"Sorry." Ron moved by the window, looking outside. "There's something moving out there."

Not two seconds after, the compartment suddenly opened and someone fell over Harry's legs. "Oh, sorry! I'm sorr- Ouch!"

"Neville? Is that you?"

"Yes, Sorry Harry!" Harry tried to get up but Neville was too heavy and they both ended up falling to the floor. Neville and Harry were tangled for a few seconds but they eventually got up.

Hermione could feel her anxiety start to kick in and she had to do something. "I'm going to ask the conductor what is going on." She tried to exit the compartment only to bump into someone who matched her squeal of pain. "Who's there?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"Oh, for the love of Godric," Hermione could feel herself get annoyed with how crowded their compartment was becoming. "What are you doing?"

Before Ginny could answer though, Lupin appeared to of had finally woken up as there was a soft, crackling noise, then a shivering light filling the compartment. Hermione turned to see him holding what looked like flames and the students could see him look them over, one by one. "Stay where you are." His voice was hoarse and he got to his feet holding the flames before him. He tried to leave the compartment but the door slid open once more before he could reach it.

Ginny moved from the door to stand closer to her brother by the window, which left Hermione and Harry closest to the door. Hermione felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand before the chilling cold hit. She slowly looked to her left and saw a floating, black hooded figure. Its hand was reaching out to Harry who looked mortified by the grayish, skeletal, and scabbed hand. In a split-second, it pulled back it's hood and she could hear it take in a shaky breath and all warmth was sucked out of the compartment. A few seconds later, Harry fainted but the dementor followed him.

Hermione gasped and the figure turned to look at her after letting it's hood fall back over its head. It immediately decided to focus on her and she saw its hand pull its hood back again as it took the same long, deep breath that appeared to suck everything but her physical body from her. The longer it breathed, the heavier she felt herself become. As her body became heavier, her body became colder, attacking her bones first then spread painfully into her muscles. Hermione then saw black and she was unsure if was because her head rolled to the back of her head or because she was dying.

Then the screaming started and the loud bangs of a gun going off nine times. There was a shattering sound with laughter filling her ears but it wasn't a cheerful or light laughter. The laughter was evil, maniacal, unnatural and was accompanied by uncontrollable sobbing-

"Hermione! C'mon, 'Mione!"

When she was fully conscious, she took a deep breath that caused her to cough since she inhaled too fast. She wanted to push herself on to her elbows but felt sick, woozy, and weak. She laid there for a moment, trying to stop the taste of bile from filling her mouth but the Hogwarts Express was moving again and the shaky floor was no help.

Everyone was looking down at her and she held out her palms as a signal for Ginny and Ron to help her up. They sat her next to Harry who only looked a little better than she did.

"Are you ok, 'Mione?" Ron asked nervously.

She swallowed again. "I feel sick. What was that? Why was it on the train?-"

There was a snapping sound and Hermione and Harry jumped, looking over at Lupin who was breaking apart chocolate. He handed a large piece to Harry and a bigger piece to Hermione. "Eat it. It'll help."

Hermione bit into it immediately and felt warmth spread from her toes and her fingers. She wiped away the cold sweat from her forehead as she continued to eat, listening to Harry talk to Lupin and not eating his piece of chocolate.

"What was that thing?" Harry's eyes flickered back and forth between everyone in the cabin. Ron and Neville shifted uncomfortably as Ginny cried in the far corner of the cabin, freaked out by what had happened.

"It's a Dementor." Lupin started to break off pieces for everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."

Everyone but Harry and Hermione froze and stared at him. "Are they the guards everyone keeps mentioning?" Harry asked.

Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket. "Yes, now eat." He straightened up and started to walk to the compartment door. "I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

After he left, Harry started with his questions again. Hermione did her best to sink into the corner of her seat, not wanting the attention to shift to her as she listened to them tell Harry how after he fainted, the dementor turned to Hermione and she fainted then seemed to go into a fit. She didn't meet anyone's eyes when they talked about her and she thanked any gods that were out there that her friends knew her well enough to continue the conversation without trying to engage her. Hermione listened to how Lupin tried to shoo off the dementor but it did not move from her until he used his wand.

"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his weight worriedly as he spoke. "Like I'd never be happy again..."

Hermione, finishing her chocolate and almost feeling as well as she usually felt, shook her head. She had that feeling every day and she stood there as her best friend was attacked. Hermione started to blame herself for doing absolutely nothing as her friends had to experience what her depression felt like- something she would not wish on anyone.

"But did any of you- faint? Or fall off of your seats?" Harry still had not ate the chocolate as he wiped the cool sweat from his forehead.

Neville shook his head as Ron verbally responded. "No. Just you and Hermione." Hermione looked up at that and shared a look with Harry.

"Only Harry and I fainted? None of you felt weak at all?" She straightened in her seat as her guilt built even more in her core. Hearing that she was one of two people who fainted made her feel more of an outcast than the word 'mudblood' ever did. Hermione couldn't help but think that something was more than wrong with her as she stood by and did nothing for the second time this year as a loved one was attacked.

Professor Lupin walked back in the room before Ron could get out what he was going to say next. Hermione was partially thankful for the interruption as there was nothing but pity in his eyes when he looked at her. Immediately, Lupin looked at the chocolate Harry had in his hand, still uneaten but starting to melt. "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..." Harry took a bite and almost immediately color started to seep back into his face. "We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione knew she should not of found it interesting that Lupin knew and recognized Harry but she could not help but let it pique her interest along with putting her on guard. Harry muttered his response, embarrassed, and Lupin turned to her. "And you?" She looked back into Lupin's brown eyes that reminded her of her neighbors chocolate lab.

"I feel fine. Thank you for helping us." She gave a polite smile as she put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Lupin nodded and gave a small smile as he returned to his seat by the window.

They were silent for the rest of the ride to Hogsmeade station. Hermione was already dressed so she had the opportunity to watch Lupin as everyone else got ready to get off the train.

It was cold and rainy as they got off the train and everyone was scrambling to get into the stagecoaches to return to the warmth that was Hogwarts castle. In the distance, Hermione could hear Hagrid trying to usher first years into boats. She found herself feeling sorry for them as they would have to brave the weather on already rocky waters. Hagrid tried to greet to them but the mass of people drove Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Neville towards the stagecoaches. When the crowd loosened up as students made their separate ways into their selected stagecoaches, Hermione stopped to look at the massive Pegasus like horses pulling them. Their body was bony and their wings were leathery. She imagined that if the four housemen of the apocalypse were real, one of them would be Death's steed.

Hermione felt a pang of guilt for never responding to Neville's letter but was grateful she at least read it. He warned her that she would now be able to see the Thestrals and it was best not to mention them as he recounted how he had been teased all of first and second year for pointing them out. She looked over at him and touched his elbow so he would look up at her. "Thank you." He was confused at first until she looked over to them. "For warning me." She knew if he had not told her, she would be freaking out over their seemingly sudden appearance.

He looked back down at his feet as they walked, debating on saying something until he did. "They're the worst part about coming to Hogwarts, I think. It's the first thing I see off the train and it's just a reminder."

While Hermione didn't say anything back she found herself agreeing already.

Hermione didn't talk to Ron or Harry in the Thestral drawn stagecoach. She leaned against the sidewall and noticed that Harry was doing the same, as they were both drained from their encounter with the dementor. Ron glanced between them as he was worried that they might collapse again.

After Ron and Harry stepped down, they heard a pompous and delighted voice greet them. "You _fainted_, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually _fainted_?" Neville turned around at the sound of his name and gave an apologetic look at the trio. The four of them were unable to fit into one stagecoach and Hermione assumed he somehow ended up sitting with Draco.

Hermione watched, arms crossed, standing on the last step of the stagecoach, as Malfoy started a scene with his cronies present. His face was gleeful and his pale eyes held nothing but malicious intentions in them. She imagined it was a look he inherited from his father. "Sod off, Malfoy." She said before Ron could say or do anything worse.

Crabbe took a step forward but Malfoy raised his hand to stop him, and the glint in his eyes grew a bit brighter. "Did you faint as well, Granger?" He spoke loud and other students were slowing their pace to listen. "I heard you did. Did the scary, old, dementor frighten you too, Granger?" He spoke to her like he was speaking to a child and some of the passerbys laughed.

"Is there a problem?" Professor Lupin exited the last carriage and had walked up to the small group that had gathered.

Malfoy straightened up and gave Lupin his full attention. "No, Professor." He glanced at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the steps, into the castle.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the crowd swarming up the steps. They were almost to the great hall when they heard their head of house call after them. "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!" They both looked at each other before saying good bye to Ron and separate from the crowd to meet Professor McGonagall. Hermione heard snickering and looked back to see Draco staring with Crabbe and Goyle. "There's no need to look so worried. I wanted to have a word in my office." McGonagall turned around and started her brisk walk up to her office with Harry following behind. Hermione was still looking back at Draco when he said something to Crabbe and Goyle and let them walk ahead of him into the Great Hall. He lifted the cage cover, unlatched the door and let Crookshanks out who immediately joined Hermione. When she looked back up from greeting the cat with pets, Draco was gone.

"Miss Granger, have you been hit with a _Stickfast_ hex? No? Then, I suggest you come with me." Hermione saw Harry and McGonagall were already on the opposite end of the entrance hall, ready to ascend the marble stair case.

"Sorry!" Hermione jogged over to them both and they continued their walk with Crookshanks not far behind.

"Ron is going to have a proper fit when he sees you bought that thing." Harry whispered glancing at Crookshanks. "How did it even get here?"

"Ahh-" Hermione had not thought about how to tell her friends about her owl or her cat. She thought about telling the truth but knew they could not fathom the idea of Draco putting aside his prejudice for a _cat_. Luckily, they had reached the door of McGonagall's office where she demanded they sit, stopping Hermione from needing to think of an answer.

Once they were in her office, Hermione noticed immediately McGonagall's desk was half the size as the one Lucius had in his study and she wondered why he needed such a large desk. She heard a hoot and turned around to see Persephone perched on a robe rack by the door they just came in from. "Persephone!" The owl glided over to Hermione's arm rest and she stroked her back lightly. "Thank you for watching her Professor McGonagall."

McGonagall smiled and nodded at her, taking her own seat across from them and watching Hermione a second longer than needed. She had worried about the girl as she had worried about Harry when he was left with the Dursleys twelve years ago. It was something she knew she would never mention as she would almost always choose to be professional over anything else. "I'm happy to see you two made it here in one piece as Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say you were both taken ill on the train."

Hermione looked up at that as she did not remember Lupin having an owl but realized the driver probably did. While she was reminded of her guilt at not being of help on the train, she could see Harry turn red from embarrassment. "It's fine-"

There was a soft knock on the door as Madam Pompfey walked into McGonagall's office. She looked between Harry and Hermione before deciding to look at Harry as she spoke. "There aren't many dangerous things that I can imagine that would end with you needing my services before the sorting is even done, Mr. Potter."

"It was the dementors, Poppy. And I'm assuming it attacked them both considering the description Lupin gave on the girl he said Harry was with." Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall shared a dark look before Madam Pomfrey stared to cluck disapprovingly.

Madam Pomfrey shook her head and started to look over Harry as she spoke. "It was a terrible thing for the Ministry to do, setting dementors around a school. They won't be the last ones who collapse. Dementors are terrible things and the effects they have on those who are already delicate-"

Hermione's cheeks went hot and in perfect synchrony, Harry and her both exclaimed "I'm not delicate!"

Madam Pomfrey switched over to Hermione, checking her vitals as she gave an absentminded "Of course not."

Hermione thought she saw a smile flash on McGonagall's face but it was gone as soon as it may have came, returning to her serious self. "What will they need? Will they need to stay the night in the hospital wing?"

Harry jumped up at that moment. "I'm fine. If anything, Hermione is he one who needs to stay in the hospital wing- she had it worse than I did."

"Harry!" Perephone threw her wings out and squawked her disapproval at Harry.

"I mean from what Ron and Neville said that it seemed to attack you for a longer period of time." He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about how he sounded and regretted his outburst immediately.

Hermioned looked Madam Pomfrey in the eyes. "I feel perfectly fine. Professor Lupin gave us chocolate and-"

"Chocalate?" Madam Pomfrey looked over her shoulder at Profesor McGonagall. "So we've got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"

McGonagall ignored the dig at the last two teachers Hogwarts had and looked at both of them sharply. "Are you _sure_ you both feel alright?" Harry responded with 'yes' while Hermione gave a 'yes ma'am,' not yet broken out of her new summer habit. "Very well." There was another knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey opened it to reveal Headmaster Dumbledore. "Poppy, can you take Mr. Potter to the Great Hall while Albus and I talk to Miss Granger about her course schedule."

Hermione slipped a hand into her robe pocket looking for her cube but only finding her wand. She decided to grip on to it and rub her thumb along it's smooth edge so she had some thing to fidget with.

After the door had closed, Albus spoke. "Good evening, Miss Granger."

"Good evening, Headmaster. Has Dr. Augsen spoken to you in regards to my- ah- health?"

He chuckled. "Always straight forward. Yes, she has and I am happy you are doing well enough that she agreed with us on you keeping all of your courses." Dumledore handed her the course list as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking it over, she saw that several of the classes had been scheduled at the same time. "Headmaster, I think there is a mistake. Some of these classes are scheduled at the same time. I cannot be in two places at once." Hermione deflated, upset that she still couldn't take the classes she wanted as she would not ask Dumbledore or her teaches to reschedule their entire work schedule for her.

The glint in Dumbledore's eyes shone brightly over his half moon glasses. "Can't be at two places at once, you say?" McGonagall stood up and grabbed a wooden box that she had over her fireplace. "What a muggle way of thinking." He struggled to not break out into a grin and Hermione wondered what he found to be so amusing.

"Are you suggesting I perform something like a _Gemino_ charm? I don't know how well that would work..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember the full details of the charm.

"No, no, something much more practical." McGonagall opened the box and Dumbledore reached in with both hands to pull out a long gold chain that had an hourglass with sand suspended in the middle of several gold rings. "Have you ever heard of a time-turner, Hermione?"

Hermione fought to keep her breathing even. "They turn back time, don't they?" She could feel her hope rising as she stared at it.

"Only for a few hours." McGonagall noticed Hermione's change in demeanor and sought to nip it in the bud. "You could spend an hour turning time back on this one and the most you might get is a day back."

"Oh." Hermione swallowed but the lump in her throat caused by her disappointment stayed. She realized then there was nothing she would not have given to be able to go back in time to save her parents. She took a deep breath and looked at Dumbledore as his expression was more personable at the moment. "So I shall use this to go back in time between certain classes so I may be able to attend all my classes, right? Are there any rules I must follow?"

Dumbledore nodded and turned to McGonagall. "Minerva, if you would?"

Hermione was forced to look at her Head of House then who was now sitting in her desk chair. "There are few rules but break any of them and we will not only prevent you from using it further but you will have to return to a normal schedule. With time-turners, anyone who uses it will have to have special permission from the ministry- which is something that we have obtained for you, with the help of Dr. Augsen." Hermione felt her mouth drop open. "Please close your mouth Miss Granger. Because we needed their permission, we ask that you do not mention this to anyone. Not Mr. Potter nor Mr. Weasley. Do I make myself clear?" McGonagall gave her signature stern look.

"Yes, of course." despite her disappointment, Hermione felt herself grow excited. It hit her that her plans were going into motion and she would have a steady distraction from everything else in her life. A part of her said that she could not do it and that he was bound to fall apart but her determination refused to let her listen. Hermione's plan was to take things one goal at a time and it was something she would stick to as she got through the year.

"Splendid!" Dumbledore checked his pocket watch. "I must be heading off, I will need to give my speech soon." He placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder before walking out. "Good luck, Hermione. I know you won't disappoint us." Her eyes watered a bit even though she felt a nervous flutter tickle her stomach. "Thank you, Headmaster."

After he slipped out, McGonagall continued. "With the time-turner, it is crucial that you are never to be seen. Not by anyone in the present or the past. Doing so will cause... in the very least an _uncomfortable_ situation. People have died from mistaking their future selves to be an impostor wanting to do harm." Hermione nodded, taking every word to heart as she did whenever she heard anything new or interesting for the first time. "And lastly, _only_ use this for your classes. Even changing something small can have caused major consequences in the future. While it may not be negative, it may not be positive either." McGonagall stretched forward to hand Hermione the time-turner.

Hermione nodded again, as she took the time turner from McGonagall's outstretched hand. "Like _Back to the Future_."

"Pardon?"

"Oh, it's a muggle reference, sorry." Hermone put the time-turner on and slipped it beneath her sweater, making sure that it was not visible at all and the only necklace that could be seen was her thin gold chain with a gold cross- given to her by her mother when she was younger.

"I see. Every time you turn it, it will go back twenty minutes. So say you need an hour, turn it back three times. Understood?" McGonagall returned the box over her fireplace and pulled out a book.

"Yes, Ma'am." McGonagall handed her the book and Hermione read the title. “Time-Turners: A History.”

"If this was any other student, I would force you to read this and write an essay on it to verify your comprehension of the tool you were just given. You don't have to-"

"I will." Hermione took the book and met her Professor's eyes. "I don't want to be treated differently."

McGonagall looked down into Hermione's eyes, knowing that for her, this was not about completing an extra essay. Watching Hermione over the past two years she grew to recognize her ambition to be the best witch she could be partially a cover for her wanting to fit in and be recognized as an equal. "Good. Now let's get you back to the feast." McGonagall opened the door, letting Hermione exit first before closing the door behind them.

They walked in silence, with Hermione grinning at the thought of all she would learn from her classes. Before she entered the hall, McGonagall turned to her, hand on the grand wooden door. "Promise me one thing, Hermione, if the classes are too much, you will drop them?"

Hermione looked up at her. She hated to think about not being able to live up to her own expectations but as she made the promise to Dr. Augsen, she did not see the harm in making the same promise to McGonagall. "I promise."

Draco watched Hermione entered the Great Hall, following her Head of House. She sat with Potter and Weasley who had saved a seat for them.

\--------------------------------------------

"Stupid, bitch." Crabbe grumbled as he shoved mashed potatoes into his already round face. Goyle grunted in agreement as he followed Draco's and Crabbe's gaze.

"Careful, Crabbe, or I won't heal your face a second time after I hit you." Draco gave him a glare and Crabbe shoveled more food into his mouth instead of responding. Draco had told his two school mates a very vague version on how the Ministry forced his family to take Granger in and spun it so it seemed as if he was personally offended by it. He did what he could to make his father proud, and that included coming off as dominant to his peers. "I already told you that Granger is mine. I don't want you or any other Slytherin to mess with her." Draco was conflicted at first with his decision as he now had to follow through with single-handedly bullying her. It would not be the civility between the two that Narcissa had hoped for but it would make Hermione's life at Hogwarts easier- something his mother had also wanted. With Draco's plan, he felt he was able to control how far the damage went, and would avoid going as far as Crabbe did earlier. He did not take Hermione's warning about her parents yesterday seriously until he saw the bruise that formed down the side of Crabbe's face.

"I'm still going to call her what I like, though." Crabbe finally decided on what his response would be to Draco's threat.

"Just remember where you stand, Crabbe." Draco forked his mashed potatoes but did not eat them as he continued to stare at the bushy haired Gryffindor who already had her nose in a book.


	10. Year Three: Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Considering I am rewriting years three through seven (and then some), there will be a lot of time skipped after this chapter. Sorry if you're not a fan of stories like that but the chapters will probably 'slow down' when she's at Malfoy Manor.
> 
> TW: Animal abuse mention, child abuse mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

It was the first day back at Hogwarts and Draco Malfoy had fallen into his regular routine of keeping his clique close as they bullied the other students around them. In front of him sat Blaise, Theo and Goyle. On his right was Crabbe and to his left was Pansy Parkinson who was currently nudging him and pointing at the Gryffindor table, where it seemed that Hermione was in a heated argument with Ronald Weasley.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared to my Arithmancy class!" They all watched as she grabbed her books and left the great hall, leaving a stunned Ron and Harry whispering about what had happened.

Pansy Parkinson snorted as she leaned close on to Draco's arm. "The newest Gryffindor orphan found a subject she may not be good at."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" Draco had Hermione in their Arithmancy class in the morning and she seemed to be adjusting just fine but he wasn't sure what class she had afterwards, nor did he care. However, the fact that there was a class that the Gryffindor princess was struggling in was something he found interesting.

"Yes." Pansy used a hand to flip her hair lazily over her shoulder, enjoying Draco's attention. "At the start of class Professor Trelawney said that books would be of no help to the class and Granger's eyes nearly popped out of her head." She giggled but it wasn't a cute one that most girls had. It almost sounded like she was struggling to breathe through her pug nose. "Then at the end, Trelawney said something along the lines of Granger 'having very little aura around her' and that she won't be able to see far into the future- if at all. I never knew Granger to get so flustered. She even snapped at the Professor."

Draco, uninterested already, shrugged a shoulder. It was something he could use to make fun of Hermione later but he already found Divination to be woolly. Draco would've been surprised someone who was seemingly practical like Hermione opt to take the class in the first place if she had not decided to take_ all _the classes a third year was could opt for. Pansy sagged the teeniest bit from his lack of response and turned back to her food.

When lunch was over, him, Crabbe, and Goyle headed outside to their first class of Care of Magical Creatures, leaving the others behind to join them later. He had been excited about the class last year as he was genuine about thinking animals and creatures were not only interesting but easier to understand than humans, but hearing Hagrid would be teaching the class put a bit of a damper on his excitement. Draco was frightened at the half-giant's size first year and serving detention in the Forbidden Forest with him did not help his feelings towards Hagrid at all.

The sky was clear but was a pale gray- the only sign showing the day before was stormy. Draco was grateful for the clouds as he wasn't a huge fan of the sun. Draco was pale and worried about getting freckles that would ruin his near marble complexion. Behind him, Crabbe and Goyle were punching each other attempting to dead arm one another, and after a few minutes of it, he snapped. "Will you two stop it?" Crabbe and Goyle mumbled apologies as they continued to walk behind him. He could see some students gathering by Hagrid's hut, one of them having a bushy haired pony tail he grew to recognize from the dinners over the summer. He scanned the crowd once more but failed to see Potter or Weasley. Draco was going to start picking on her with the information Pansy had supplied but Hagrid emerged from his hut. After a few minutes, all the students had arrived and class started.

Hagrid guided them over to the paddock by the woods, finally telling them all how to open their textbooks. Hagrid used Hermione's copy to demonstrate; He ripped off the spellotape binding her textbook and stroked the spine of it. Draco refused to hold back his sneer or snide commentary on how he felt about having a wizard-eating textbook. "Oh, how silly we've all been! We should have _stroked _them! Why didn't we guess!"

Hagrid looked down at Hermione. "I- I thought they were funny."

"Oh, tremendously funny!" Said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try to rip our hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy." Hagrid was starting to look downcast and Hermione knew how protective her best friend was over those he cared about.

She grabbed the back of Harry's sleeve to stop him from saying anything else and she looked back up at Hagrid. The incense from Trelawney's class had given her a headache and it still had yet to go away. The last thing she wanted was the stress of her best friend getting into a fight to make it worse. "What page do we need to turn to Professor Hagrid?" She mustered the sweetest smile she could and was relieved to see his demeanor change at once when she used the title 'Professor.'

"Forget yer books today, stay here!" He strode cheerily into the forest and out of sight.

"God, this place is going to the dogs." Malfoy turned to look at Crabbe and Goyle as he spoke loudly, pretending he only wanted his friends to hear him. "My father will have a fit when I tell him that oaf is teaching classes-"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry repeated. Hermione tugged on the back of Harry's sleeve again but he ripped it away from her. She crossed her arms again and shook her head, staring into the woods hoping Hagrid would come back soon.

Draco turned his smoky eyes to Harry, then pointed a shaky hand behind Harry, pretending to be scared. "Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you-"

Draco was interrupted by the sound of Lavender Brown squealing as she pointed to where Hagrid was by the forest. Trotting towards the Hogwarts students, inside the paddock, were roughly a dozen half horse, half eagle hybrids that Hermione recognized from the same book she recognized house elves from. She took a deep breath and prayed that Hagrid did not expect any of the students to ride them.

Hagrid yelled at the creatures, urging them forward while shaking their chains. When they were close enough to their side of the fence, Hagrid turned around and waved a hand. "Hippogriffs! Beau'iful, aren't they?"

Draco eyed the beasts warily but could understand where Hagrid was coming from. While the back half of them resembled a horse, their bodies were completely covered in the shiniest and silkiest feathers he had ever seen. Most of the Hippogriffs were pastel colored with a few being a chest nut or caramel brown.

Hermione said more to herself than anyone else, "They're not Crookshanks but they're not bad."

Ron whipped around to look at Hermione incredulously. "Did you buy that thing that tried to kill Scabbers from _Magical Menagerie?_"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders bashfully before turning back to Hagrid. Draco missed whatever instructions were given and he knew Crabbe nor Goyle would know either. Thankfully, Harry volunteered to demonstrate on what to do when no one else did and was even able to ride the Hippogriff. When Harry got off the Hippogriff, he looked a little green and had a face that Draco immediately mimicked making Crabbe and Goyle chuckle.

"Good work, Harry!" Roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. Draco felt a pang of jealousy that Harry was once again boy-wonder in everyone's eyes but wore his mask of boredom to hide it. "Okay, who else wants to go?"

The rest of the class walked into the paddock where they split into groups to take turns winning the Hippogriff's trust. Draco had memorized everything Harry had done and repeated it all effortlessly, quickly winning Buckbeak over. Being in front of the bird and looking into its orange eyes he could appreciate it's beauty even more now. "I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" His voice was a bit softer than he meant it to be and he could see Crabbe glance at Goyle to see if he noticed Draco's tone. Not wanting to raise suspicion that he had a soft spot for animals, he turned on his signature smirk and mocking voice. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

Before he knew it, he was on the floor screaming and writhing away from the Hippogriff. Hagrid, acting quickly, had wrestled Buckbeak away while commanding everyone to get out of the paddock. The class watched in horror as Malfoy had curled into a ball, gripping his arm where the the blood was soaking his robes. He was no longer screaming but was groaning from the pain in his arm.

Hagrid had gone white as he watched the blood blossom and stain the ground beneath him. "Someone help me- gotta get him outta here-"

Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy as he ran back to the castle. As they passed, she saw the long deep gash on Malfoy's arm and looked at the grass where Malfoy was previously. Hermione realized it was a mistake when her head automatically felt like it was going to split open looking at the dark pool of blood. "Ahhh!"

Ron came up to her immediately, and placed a hand on her elbow- their anger at each other forgotten. "What happened?"

Hermione could hear a ringing in her ears but she pointed to the blood in the grass. "_Scourgify._"

"What?"

"Cast the spell._ Scourgify._"

"Um, I don't know... that one..." Ron shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Harry. Harry took the gate from Hermione and closed it, then cast the scouring charm himself, clearing the blood.

The rest of the class had started to follow Hagrid at a walk, something Hermione was grateful for as Pansy was shrieking through her tears on what should or should not be done with Hagrid. Dean argued back on how it was Malfoy's fault and Hagrid was innocent.

Harry, Ron and Hermione followed the rest of the class- slowly- as Hermione was gripping her head. "Is there anything we can do?" Ron asked.

"No," She whispered. Hermione knew the spell that Narcissa had cast on her many times to relieve her of the pain but was not willing to risk teaching Harry or Ron. "I get migraines every so often when I'm reminded of it." She winced as the throbbing became more intense. "I need to go to Madam Pomfrey. She can cast a spell that would help..."

"Right." Harry and Ron escorted her to the infirmary, where they were quickly shooed out by Madam Pomfrey.

"Going for two days in a row, Hermione?" Madam Pomfrey guided her to a cot and Hermione let Madam Pomfrey push her down onto the mattress. "It's going to be a moment, dear. I'm still working on Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione groaned as Madam Pomfrey walked off and wanted to speak but couldn't as her migraine prevented her from doing so. Hermione failed to tell her that it was the beginnings a flashback and not just a migraine for her to deal with until Madam Pomfrey was free to heal her. Hermione rolled over so her face was in the pillow on the cot and groaned as she lost herself into the worst night of her life.

Draco had his uninjured arm over his eyes as Madam Pomfrey worked on his arm. She said the talons had cut deep and nearly cut through to the bone so she would have to regrow the muscles and tendons in his arm- something that would keep him in the infirmary for days. Draco was no longer in pain as she had used a numbing balm on his shoulder and arm. He was actually relaxed and did not look up when he felt her disappear from his side as some other poor student was brought in- at least not until he heard Madam Pomfrey say Hermione's name.

His eyes were blurry at first as his eyes adjusted to the light again but he was able to see that Hermione was in a stance he became familiar with: She was having a flashback. Narcissa took the time out of her day to give Draco lessons in healing after his regular summer tutor had left for the day. She started teaching him about healing when Lucius started to become worse with his beatings and she explained he needed to learn as she would not be around forever. Following that same fashion, Narcissa started to teach Draco about the mental side of healing since Hermione was a new topic that came into their lives. One thing that Narcissa had a hard time figuring was why Hermione's flashbacks always came with a migraine. Headaches were often a normal occurrence during or after but not a migraine _before_ a flashback.

Nonetheless, he was surprised Madam Pomfrey had simply laid her down and returned to tending his arm "Are you not going to help her?"

Madam Pomfrey did not look up as she continued her spell work. "She just has a bad headache. _You_ however, are missing a third of your arm. I should be finished with this last bit then I will help her." She was dismissive and Draco looked over at Hermione again, who now had her face buried in a pillow. He could tell from how badly she was shaking that she was sobbing into her pillow. He had sobbed like that before and knew the only reason she wasn't making a sound was because she couldn't breathe from crying so hard.

Draco looked away from her as he reminded himself that he was a Malfoy and he did not care for mudbloods. He looked straight ahead and pretended that he couldn't hear her legs kicking on the cot. He told himself that he hated her, that the only reason that he was no longer to have visitors over at the manor since his dad hired his tutor was because of her as the tutor was only hired so he could surpass Hermione's grades. He told himself that her life did not matter as she was just some common peasant and his did because he could trace his family back to royalty. Draco told himself that he needed to make his father proud and that this is how he should act. When she finally breathed in the air through her next sob his eyes shifted back to her. He knew that sound and he knew that while he was his father's son, he was not his father. Yes, he beat and taunted his school mates but it was never anything lasting as he hated to see anything suffering. Human or creature. Pureblood or muggle.

"You need to tend to her, now." He tried to pull his arm away but it was so numb that he struggled to move it.

Madam Pomfrey glanced back at Hermione with a frown but hardly seemed anymore concerned that she was when Hermione first came in. "I'm almo-"

"She's having a flashback. They happen when she gets migraines and you need to stop it." He didn't look at Madam Pomfrey until that moment and felt a sense of pride at the shocked look on her face. He let his face harden and his eyes narrow as he drawled his next sentence. "You _do _know what happened to her this summer, right?"

As if on queue, Hermione screamed into the wet pillow, calling out for her mother before dissolving into now audible sobs.

Madam Pomfrey quickly ran to her side, summoning a green potion whilst casting her first spell to help stop the migraine that had taken over over body. When he saw Hermione's body relax and the potion was being fed to her weak body he looked away. He can't say that he regretted telling Madam Pomfrey what was wrong so she would help Hermione but he did feel some shame at knowing his father would not of had approved. Draco was raised not to interfere with anything that did not concern him, especially when it concerned those beneath him.

Madam Pomfrey pulled Hermione's cover over her body as she dosed off into sleep, then focused once again on Draco's arm. "So, you have an interest in healing?"

Draco smirked at her, making his face unreadable to mask his negative thoughts. "No, my mother just so happens to be the only person you came second to in your graduating healer class."

Madam Pomfrey gave a "Hmpf" but continued to work on his arm in silence until she decided he was done with his arm for the day.  
\---------------------------

When Draco woke up from the pain in his arm the next day, Hermione was already gone. He considered asking what had happened to her when Madam Pomfrey started a second round of spell work after putting numbing balm on his arm, but knew it was pointless to ask. They were at Hogwarts and she was in classes that he was missing. Draco stopped watching Madam Pomfrey and let his head roll back so he could stare at the ceiling as he thought about all of the work he would need to catch up on. Madam Pomfrey already told him he would not be returning to classes by Thursday the earliest and he knew Hogwarts teachers did not hold back on anything. Atleast he wasn't going to be stuck with-

"OHHH, DRACO!" He looked over to see Pansy Parkinson jogging over to his bedside and he wondered how someone was capable of making their voice sound so whiny. Pansy threw herself on to his shoulders in a hug that made Madam Pomfrey hiss and Draco gasp from the pain of a nerve being struck. He barely felt it due to the numbing balm but it was still surprising and unpleasant.

"Miss Parkinson, if you want Draco to get any better I suggest you take two steps back before I sever his arm." Madam Pomfey had a hand on her hip and Draco had to smile. He knew she was doing the exact opposite of anything requiring her to cut into his arm but Pansy didn't know that.

Pansy, afraid to hurt Draco anymore, took three steps back. "How are you feeling, Draco?" Her eyes were wide as she looked at his bare arm and he could see tears start to swell again.

"I feel fine, it looks worse than it actually is. I'm just concerned it will leave a scar." Usually he would have given a dramatic answer but he did not want to risk making Pansy cry. She didn't tear her eyes away from his arm though and he got annoyed. "Stop looking at it."

Pansy looked at him when he snapped, saw his annoyance, and looked down at her feet. She fidgeted with her hands then looked back at him, her eyes more dry and her chest slightly puffed out. "I told my father what happened."

This time it was Draco's turn to stare. "You, what?"

"I wrote to him. He'll be telling your father and-" she glanced at Madam Pomfrey who was dressing his wound again, finished with her work for now. "Well, you know how your father can be, Draco. Hopefully he'll have things change for the better."

Madam Pomfrey glanced at Pansy before handing Draco the potion he needed to drink after every redressing. "Miss Parkinson, I'm going to ask you to leave as Mr. Malfoy is going to need some rest." Pansy grossed her arms and opened her mouth to argue but Draco stopped her before she could get a word out.

"Pansy, just go." Draco was beyond angry and did not want to be around her a second longer lest he be tempted to hex her in front of Madam Pomfrey. Pansy was taken aback and opened her mouth to reply, the waterworks already threatening to come back as her brown face started to flush. He felt his blood rise to his cheeks as he stared her down. Pansy was confused as to what she said that had made him so angry but she obeyed without another word and when she turned to exit the infirmary, she knocked into the cot next to his. Pansy only glanced over her shoulder once before she returned to the castle's hallway.

Like clockwork, one of Lucius' owls had came through the infirmary window just after Madam Pomfrey left and put up the privacy curtains. The owl, quite literally, threw the letter at Draco's chest before landing on the soft mattress between his feet. "Always the most polite, Poseidon." Draco threw the owl a look as he struggled with one hand to remove his father's letter. While Draco did not blame Buckbeak, he hated not being to use his arm while it healed in the infirmary. Once the letter was free, his eyes read the letter quickly, his stomach sinking further with every word.

_Draco,_

_Mr. Parkinson had informed me of a very intriguing letter he received from his daughter, Pansy Parkinson, regarding your health at Hogwarts._

_I can only assume that the person responsible for hiring that disgusting, mutt of a 'wizard' was Dumbledore and have already written to not just the School Governors, but to the Wizgamont as well. Why they thought a creature whose only use is to grow feathers for our pillows was interesting enough to be showcased to adolescents is beyond me._

_Your mother is livid hearing about your condition and has requested your medical files from her old schoolmate, Poppy Pomfrey, so they will be passed along to the Governors and the Wizgamont. If you would be so kind as to make yourself useful for once and use your theatrics to make sure everyone believes how serious we find this, it would be appreciated._

_Lucius Abraxas Malfoy._

_Your reply is not needed, nor desired, but if you have any comments or concerns you wanted to add, do not hesitate to reply._

Draco burned the letter, then kicked one of the banisters of the bed in his frustration, causing Poseidon to fly off screeching. He knew that creatures typically did not lash out without reasoning and was livid that Buckbeak was bound to face consequences over something Draco probably did wrong. Draco replayed the class in his head and swore he was paying attention until he remembered he was actually paying attention to Granger and Weasley when Hagrid was giving the instructions on how to gain the trust of Hippogriffs. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the ceiling. Draco found himself wanting to use this as another reason to hate her- that same part of him, the one that his father had molded for him, saw that nothing good seemed to come out of her existence for him. The smaller, more reasonable part blamed himself for eavesdropping on their conversation in the first place.

Draco threw his good arm over his eyes again. No matter who he tried to blame, one thing was for certain with his father hearing about it: Buckbeak was as good as dead now.  
\-----------------------------

Draco thought about skipping the rest of the day Thursday as he was released from the infirmary during the middle of double potions, which was the second to last class for the day, but then he thought about how badly he had to play catch up- even with Crabbe and Goyle bringing him his school work from the past three days.

As soon as he walked into the Professor Snape's classroom, Pansy Parkinson was by his side. He had not seen her since he told her to get out of the infirmary and it seemed like she wanted to make up for lost time. "How is it, Draco? Does it hurt much?" She gingerly touched his good arm as she spoke.

He allowed his usually neutral mask to twist into a grimace for the class to witness. "Yeah." When she turned away to make room at her already full desk, he rolled his eyes at Crabbe and Goyle as if to say 'obviously.'

"Settle down, settle down." Snape said idly as the class started whispering. "Draco, the only seat available will be at Longbottom's table."

Draco didn't need to look at Pansy to know she was pouting and was almost thankful he would have to share the desk with Neville Longbottom... and Hermione Granger.

Draco walked over to the only empty seat of the classroom. Hermione was between him and Neville but Draco sat without saying anything. He was still unsure if he was mad with her about Buckbeak but decided to act like she did not exist until he figured it out. He looked at the chalkboard and saw the class was working on a shrinking solution, something him and his tutor had done over the summer already. He smirked, an idea coming to mind. His father wanted theatrics, he would give theatrics. "Sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, my arm-"

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him." Snape said without looking up from the potions he was grading from another class.

Ron went over to Draco's side of the table and grabbed the roots roughly. "There's nothing wrong with your arm." He hissed.

Draco leaned back in his chair, his smirk widening into a small grin. Hermione was looking over her shoulder at him, one eye brow raised but he continued to ignore her. "Weasley, you heard Professor Snape. Cut up those roots."

Ron grabbed Malfoy's knife, gathered Malfoy's already mangled roots, and began to chop them roughly so that they were all different sizes.

"Professor," Malfoy said in a drawl that bordered a whine. "Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."

Snape got up from his desk and approached the table. He gave an unpleasant smile to Ron. "Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But, sir-"

"_Now,_" Snape said in a dangerous voice that forced Draco to bite the inside of his cheek so he would not howl with laughter.

After Ron begrudgingly traded roots with Draco, Draco called out to Professor Snape again.

"And, sir, I'll need this Shrivelfig skinned," said Malfoy, his voice full of laughter. He knew that even if the whole class prepared everything for him, there was no way the potion would have enough time to be brewed and turned in for a grade. Something Snape also knew but did not care about.

"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig." Snape looked up from his potions to give Harry a dangerous look that matched the voice he just used with Ron.

Their table was getting cramped, even with Hermione scooting away from them to have more space as they worked on Malfoy's potion. Malfoy leaned forward so he could talk to Harry and Ron quietly. "Seen Hagrid lately?" Draco saw Hermione's head snap up from stirring her cauldron at the mention of Hagrid but again, he paid her no mind.

"None of your business." Ron replied in a clipped tone, trying to focus on his roots.

Draco hated thinking about what would become of Buckbeak but he did not pretend he wouldn't be happy to see Hagrid gone. Draco faked a mock tone of sorrow. "I'm afraid he won't be a teacher for much longer. Father's not very happy about my injury-"

"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury." Ron said through clenched teeth. He was chopping up his roots into an even worse shape with the shaking his hands were doing from his anger.

"_Ron_." Hermione hissed. "He just wants to get a rise out of you."

Draco continued as if no one interrupted him. "Father has complained to the School Governors _and_ to the Ministry of Magic. He has a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this-" Draco gave a fake but heavy sigh- "Who knows if my arm will ever be the same again?"

"So that's why you're putting it on," said Harry, accidentally beheading an already dead caterpillar due to his hand shaking from his anger. "To try and get Hagrid fired."

Draco lowered his voice and leaned forward, resisting a frown at the decapitated caterpillar. "_Partially_, Potter, but there are other benefits too." Draco slid the cutting board away from Harry so it was in front of Ron. He leaned back and resumed his normal aristocratic drawl. "Wealey, slice my caterpillars for me- and make sure they're even unlike _your_ roots."

Harry's jaw locked but before he could say anything, Hermione put a hand over his that still held the knife he was using for Malfoy's ingredients. "He's just trying to get under your skin, Har-"

"Orange, Longbottom?" Snape's voice cut off Hermione's whisper and Draco failed to stifle his laughter as the potions professor ladled some of Neville's potion so he could drop it back into the cauldron, allowing the whole class to see Neville's blunder of a potion. "This potion is supposed to be a bright green and this is more of a..." Snape ladled it once more for emphasis. "Blood Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?" Snapes voice dropped into a dangerous tone, not to the degree Ron was given but it still had Neville trembling in his seat and on the verge of tears. "I believe I said that only _one _rat spleen was needed? Did I not state plainly that _only a dash _of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?" Neville's toad, Trevor, croaked at that moment and Snape looked over to it, a malicious glint in his eye.

Neville was too afraid to do or say anything else. "Sir," Hermione spoke up when it was clear Neville would not. "Please, I could help Neville put it right-"

"I don't remember asking you to show off Miss Granger," Snape snapped and Hermione went pink. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that would encourage you to pay better attention in my class. And you two!" He pointed at Harry and Ron. "If you are done preparing Mr. Malfoy's ingredients, return to your own potions."

Neville was silent from fear for a moment, then he turned to Hermione, gripping her arm to the point his nails dug into her a little. "Help. Me!" He moaned.

Draco didn't feel bad for Neville but his smile was no longer on his face at the thought of a defenseless animal being poisoned. He started to mix his potion together just so he would have something to do as he watched Hermione whisper instructions to Neville out of the side of her mouth. Draco knew how to counteract the extra ingredients that were added to the potion, solely because of his summer tutor, and found it interesting that Hermione almost knew how to do it, too. But only almost.

Hermione was able to bring the potion from blood orange to a very dull green that was also still too thick in consistency. Neville was staring at Hermione wide eyed as she was clearly thinking on what was missing in the potion. "Five minutes remaining." Snape called out as he eyed Neville and his cauldron with a wicked grin.

Draco identified the item immediately but refused to say anything. He felt like he helped Hermione more than he needed to this week and he was _definitely _unwilling to help out any _other_ Gryffindor, especially one who was so co-dependent he still brought his familiar to class in their third year. When he helped Hermione with her episode in the infirmary, he was able to forgive himself by saying it was something his mother would have approved of. If Draco had to disobey his father, it would only be for his mother's sake... or to help a defenseless animal. Draco scowled at his own cauldron, again going back and forth with himself on what Lucius would have wanted him to do and what Draco wanted to do. Draco thought back to the 'walks' his dad would take him on as a child where his father would go on rants about blood supremacy and how the Malfoys were even better than most wizards and all creatures. Lucius would even make it a point to kill or torture anything in their paths on their walks. Draco would always end up crying but Lucius continued on, insisting it would make his stronger.

Draco eyed Neville's cauldron once more and made his decision. The dullness of it meant that the potion would still be poisonous if consumed by the toad. He sighed as he slid over a few of the caterpillar slices underneath her right hand. She looked over at him bewildered. "What do yo-"

"Juice them and add it to the potion, Granger." He spoke out of the side of his mouth like she did earlier to Neville, but much more subtle. He kept his eyes fixed onto his cauldron and missed her eyes narrowing, but heard her sharp intake of breath.

"So trying to take Hagrid's job isn't enough? You have to try and kill Neville's toad, too?" She hissed at him and he looked up, his own anger making his cheeks flush. He mentally cursed himself for going against his father's teaching's yet again but refused to let her anger get the best of him. Draco was stubborn in the way that once he decided to do something, he saw it through.

"You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clean up while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's on his familiar." Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy all laughed out loud as they watched Neville stir his potion feverishly, hoping to at least have the potion thin out. Neville groaned and put his head in his hands after a minute as he sank back into his seat. Hermione turned to try and console him but stopped when Draco replied.

"How is Crooks by the way? Completely unharmed and happy I imagine?" She glanced back at him, thinking about how he had treated Crookshanks when she had no other way to get her cat to Hogwarts. "Even slimey, _useless_ familiars are better than most humans." With that, he threw the last of his own ingredients into the cauldron and sat back as he watched Hermione squeeze the caterpillars, then rush Neville into adding it into his cauldron. He allowed one corner of his mouth to go into a small smile as Neville's potion turned into the proper shade of acid green with a more watery consistency.

At the end of the lesson, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron. Draco watched a nerve in his godfather's face twitch as he looked at the now lime green potion. Snape silently picked up Trevor as the class stopped what they were doing and watched with anticipation; the Gryffindors were scared for their housemate while the Slytherin's watched eagerly. Neville was biting the skin on the side of his nails as Snape tipped a small spoon of the potion into the toad's mouth.

After Trevor gulped and turned into a tadpole, the Gryffindor's erupted with a cheer as the Slytherin's groaned. Snape held up a hand after turning Trevor back into his normal self and gave Hermione a withering look. "Ten points from Gryffindor, as I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. I hope you weren't expecting special treatment upon your return." Snape tossed the toad back to Neville who barely caught him. "Class dismissed."

Draco vanished what was left of his potion and made his way out of the classroom with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy not far behind him. When he got to the top of the stairs, he over heard a bit of Harry and Ron's conversation;

"Where is she? I can't believe Snape said that to her _after _he took ten points from her." Ron looked around and did not see Hermione. Draco could feel his eyebrows rise slightly as he thought he saw her ahead of them a moment ago.

"There she is." Said Harry. Draco looked to his right and saw Hermione hurrying up the stairs, panting slightly. One hand clutched her bag while the other was tucking something underneath her robes.

"How did you do that?" Ron frowned at her as they started to walk in front of Draco an his group.

"Do what?" She ran a hand over her halo of frizzy hair that escaped her ponytail but they immediately stuck back up once her hand was gone.

"One minute you were right behind us, the next you were at the bottom of the stairs again."

"What?" Hermione sounded confused and shook her head. "Oh- I had to go back for something. Oh no-" At that point, a seam split in Hermione's bag which caused at least a dozen large and heavy books to fall to the ground.

With no hesitation Draco kicked the first one to land in front of him and the rest of his Slytherin friend's followed suit.

"Malfoy, what's your problem?" Ron turned red and pulled out his wand to point it at Draco, causing all the Slytherin's to stop in their tracks.

Draco threw up his hands in a false surrender. "Oh no! Watch out! Weasel's going to curse himself into throwing up slugs again!" Draco put his hands down as the Slytherin's burst into laughter.

"Problem?" Lupin walked up behind them and eyed Ron's raised wand. Draco bit back a groan already dreading the detention coming up.

Harry and Hermione rejoined Ron, both carrying a tall stack of her books. "There's no problem, Professor Lupin."

Everyone looked at Hermione, different levels of shock on each face, and her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink.

"Then why does this gentleman have his wand pointed at him?" Lupin gestured between Ron and Draco as he spoke and Hermione put on a polite smile.

"Well after my bag ripped, Ron had pulled out his wand to fix my bag and Malfoy couldn't help but notice his new wand. Ron was just trying to show it off." She shifted the heavy books as it was becoming uncomfortable for her to carry them. No one moved and Harry looked at Hermione like she had three heads for lying to a teacher. If Draco wasn't raised never to show his emotions to the world, he would be looking at her in the same manner. Hermione's face blushed even more when no one said anything. "Ron, if you could... These books are heavy."

Ron shuffled over to Hermione, his lips pressed into a white line to stop whatever it was he wanted to say. "Is that true, Harry?" Lupin looked at Draco and his groups of friend's, more than hesitant to believe the weak lie.

"Oh, uh, yes sir, it is." Harry looked the teacher in the eye and even gave a half smile. Lupin, satisfied with the answer nodded to him, then to Draco and walked off.

Harry and Ron both turned on Hermione, who was shoving the last of her books into the bag from Harry's grasp. "What was that? Why did you lie for _Malfoy_? And why are you carrying around books for subjects you don't even have today?" Ron pointed at her textbooks as he spoke.

Crabbe cracked his knuckles in what was supposed to be a menacing way but Draco slapped him in the chest and nodded towards the great hall. "Come on, let's go. I'm starving." Draco was curious to hear what Hermione's reply was as he didn't understand why she lied either, but was not curious enough to allow his housemates to hear and ask him questions later. Draco turned to Pansy to ask about what he had missed in their classes earlier in the day when his shoe hit something that skidded against the wall to his left. "Goyle, hand me that book over there." Goyle obeyed as they continued their trek to the great hall for lunch.

Draco smacked the excess dirt off of the book on to Goyles robes before he looked at the book's title: ‘Time Turners: A History.’ He flipped through it curiously and found a paper that was being used as a book mark- except the paper, he realized, had Hermione's class schedule on it.  
\------------------------------

"I think you're on a bit of a mean streak, Hermione. First Crabbe, then Professor Trewlaney, and now Professor Lupin."

"I just don't think that forcing students to face a boggart is the greatest thing, Ron. Boggarts can actually be dangerous if your fear is dangerous enough and you can't control it." She had her arms crossed as they walked into the Great Hall for dinner. Hermione knew she was really just scared of what shape the boggart would turn out to be if she had to face it but she believed she did have a point. She had ended up with too many new fears from the summer alone and hated to even think about facing them again in her life time.

"Are you a Gryffindor or not?" Ron grinned at her and she playfully punched his arm.

"Do you think he didn't let me try to go against the boggart because of-" Harry lowered his voice as they all sat down to be served dinner. "The dementor on the train?"

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry sympathetically, "Defense against the Dark Arts is your best subject, Harry. I'm sure there was a reason why he did not allow almost _half the class _to face the boggart." Hermione started loading her plate quickly so she could finish and head back to Gryffindor tower to get back to her homework. Hermione hated to admit it to herself but she was just keeping up with her homework rather than being ahead in the curriculum like she usually was. Even when she was rushing, she still was able to eat neatly, unlike Ron.

"'Mione, when are going going to stop rushing so we can all actually eat together?" Ron was talking with his mouth full which caused potatoes and corn to go everywhere. Hermione could not hide her disgust and even scooted away to make sure she was not hit by any food. She could not help but think of how her mother would have reacted if she were to see someone eating in that way and it caused her grimace to deepen. "Sorry." Ron made an effort to wash down what he had in his mouth with pumpkin juice.

"It wasn't you." Hermione felt her whole demeanor change and tears prickle her eyes. She lost her appetite so she grabbed a few dinner rolls and her bag so she could leave. "I've got to go study." Ron and Harry didn't attempt to stop her but they did watch her walk out, pity in their eyes. Hermione had quickly realized when she returned to Hogwarts that 'pity' was the new emotion that everyone always had in their eyes when talking to her. The only thing that bothered her more than that was how people started treating her differently. She was never one to make friends easily but it seemed like the few relationships with people outside of Harry and Ron had primarily dissipated. Most stopped talking to her out of fear of upsetting her and people she barely knew would come up to her to try and talk to her like they were the best of friends. Hermione would have appreciated the kindness but she knew the reason why they were doing it and hated the attention.

Hermione was silently crying, eating a roll, when she turned the corner to go up the staircase and saw Draco Malfoy poised on them. He looked at her and she thought back to when she was in his room as his hair was starting to curl like it did then. "_I mark the hours, every one, nor have I yet outrun the sun. My use and value, unto you are gauged by what you have to do._" Hermione felt her stomach drop as he repeated the inscription on all Ministry issued time-turners. She only processed she froze in place when he let out a laugh after a minute of watching her. She broke out of her stupor and removed the roll from her mouth. Hermione realized that she could really only do one thing in the situation, which was try to play dumb.

"What are you on about, Malfoy?" He stopped laughing and looked at her.

"You know 'what I'm on about.' You're using a time-tu-"

"Shh!" She threw herself forward and went to put a hand over his mouth, forgetting that she still had the half eaten roll in her hand. Hermione attempted to stop him from continuing as Peeves the Poltergeist had appeared from the other corner of the staircase. Peeves was chuckling to himself about a trap he laid for Filch and did not notice the two students on the staircase. After he passed, Draco shoved her off of him, not hard enough for her to fall but hard enough for her to lose her balance for a second.

"Ugh." He made a show of pretending to brush dirt off of himself but took a bite of the roll he still had in his mouth.

"What do you want? How did you find out?" He looked up and saw that she had tears in her eyes again and was fighting the urge to ball so hard that her face was glowing from how hot it was. He raised an eyebrow unsure of how someone could be so emotionally driven all of the time. He pulled out ‘Time-Turners: A History’ and waved it in the air. Hermione had been sleep deprived from not taking her dreamless sleep draughts since she left the infirmary to the point that she did not even notice the book missing for half the day. Hermione had not been taking the draught as Madam Pomfrey had given her calming draught the day of her flashback and she needed to wait a few days so she would not have any more adverse reactions. Hermione was grateful she had only experienced an easily upset stomach as Dr. Augsen had informed her of the possible reactions from mixing the two draughts.

"I want you to do better at keeping your secret. Does the Ministry even know you have one?" She was taken aback by his lack of blackmail but nodded, her stomach starting to return back to it's normal place in her stomach. "Thank, Merlin." He stood and she was reminded again how he tall he was compared to her. She wasn't intimidated, just surprised, even when his features hardened and his voice became dangerous- an echo of Snape's earlier that day. "I can count on one hand how many things there are that I would allow myself to forget how much I despise your kind so we can come to an agreement on something." Her eyes narrowed but he continued to speak when she tried to say something. "One of these things is my parents. You now reflect on us and you need to be more careful." He opened McGonagall's copy of ‘Time-Turners: A History’ and removed her schedule.

"Hey!" She reached for her things and he held an arm out, thrusting the book to her chest.

"I'm assuming you memorized your schedule." He threw her schedule to the side and cast his spell before it settled on the ground. "_Incendio_!" The paper burst into flames in front of them both.

"Wha-" He turned his wand to her and she reached for her own but before she could pull it out, he had already cast his next spell.

"_Mutant enim foris, sed intus, non_." Hermione felt the texture of the book change and when she looked down, she saw that the cover changed to look like the journal Harry had given her. When she opened the book, she saw none of the contents had changed.

"Why did you..." Her voice drifted off as she flipped through each page.

"That schedule in that book was a give away. Goyle or Weasley would have been able to guess what was going on. The cover change is just added security."

"I don't understand why this is so important to you." She held the book close to her body as she stared at him.

Draco looked at her incredulously, annoyance and anger in his features as he remembered the conversation Lucius had ith him in his study the day they went to Diagon Alley. "You've caused enough trouble for us already. First, the Minister blackmails my father to take you in. The Malfoy name has gotten positive publicity but my father has lost many business colleagues because we look like blood traitors now." Her mouth had dropped into a perfect "O" shape but he kept going. "If you were to mess up somehow with that time-turner, the publi-"

"Stop." Her eyebrows came together and she took a step closer to him. "What are you talking about? What do you mean Fudge- I mean he was nice enough..." Hermione shook her head as she let her voice trail off.

Draco wanted to smile as it clicked that he knew something that Hermione didn't for some reason he couldn't. He didn't meet her eyes and picked at the roll in his hands suddenly feeling awkward about the news he just dropped on her. "You didn't think you were willingly adopted, did you?" He felt something like pity in his question and hated how he had phrased it as it made him sound like a wanker.

He didn't see her leave but he felt the wind hit him as she ran up the stairs behind him. Draco turned to call out to her but not only were students exiting the Great Hall, but he wouldn't know what to say. Draco got up and started to head to the dungeons to head back to the Slytherin common room. He threw the rest of the roll over his shoulder and stuffed his hands in his pockets, unable to shake the feeling he just did what his mother told him not to do: Make her life at Hogwarts that much more worse.


	11. Year Three: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Depression, self-loathing, child/animal abuse mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

_'You didn't think you were adopted willingly, did you?' _Hermione rubbed her thumbs over her wand, feeling the flow of her magic between her body and it.  


"Hermione."  


_'Ofcourse I didn't. I didn't think I was a pawn in the Minister’s game though.' _In the back of her mind she wondered if she could cause wear by rubbing her thumbs into the wand as often as she did.  
"Hullooo..."  


_'It makes sense now why Fudge was so involved and wanted me to report anything Lucius did wro-'_  
"Hermione!"  


Hermione jumped and look up at Dr. Augsen, nearly dropping her wand. "I drifted off again, didn't I?"  


Dr. Augsen gave her a small smile. "You did. Is something on your mind? Perhaps your birthday tomorrow?"  


Hermione felt her bottom lip quiver slightly at the mention of her first birthday without her parents and looked at Professor McGonagall's fireplace. Every Wednesday and Saturday, Dr. Augsen and Hermione met in the office to hold their sessions. It made sense to do their sessions there as McGonagall had one of two fireplaces connected to the floo network and no one wanted to be caught doing anything suspicious by Professor McGonagall's office, leaving them with privacy.   


Hermione looked back up at Dr. Augsen when she felt her voice wouldn't tremble. "Yeah, I was thinking about that." Her lie was half-hearted but after she last spoke to Draco on the stairs almost three weeks ago, Hermione had stopped trusting her therapist. As far as she was concerned, Dr. Augsen was just another part of the Ministry who was using her. Hermione wanted to ask what Fudge's motives were but did not imagine Dr. Augsen telling her anything. Dr. Augsen had always came off as... Sterile, in a way, even when she was being comforting. She was someone who Hermione thought would not overstep her professional boundaries. Hermione had respected Dr. Augsen a lot because of it but it added to her frustration now.  


"Do you have any plans for tomorrow, then?" Dr. Augsen could sense the distance Hermione put between them and could not understand why. She hoped Hermione would open up when brought back to Hogwarts but the opposite seemed to of happened. Dr. Augsen wondered if something had happened but was unsure how to get Hermione to tell her.  


"No. I think I'll just stay in bed all day and work on my school work." Hermione fidgeted with the sleeve of her sweater. That was another half lie, Hermione had actually caught up this week and was anticipating spending her day crying in bed or hiding in the different parts of the castle from her friends so they would not disturb her, letting her have the breakdowns in peace.  


"I see," Usually, Dr. Augsen would have chastised her for wanting to isolate herself but not knowing what else was bothering Hermione, her concerns were elsewhere. "How are your classes then? I hope they are not too much for you.”  


"They're fine." The two were silent for a moment as Dr. Augsen's quill scratched into the notebook and Hermione rolled her wand between her hands. Dr. Augsen thought about asking Hermione directly if anything had happened but decided against it and reached into her briefcase instead. She pulled out a small box wrapped in blue gift wrap along with an envelope holding a card. Hermione took it and gave the doctor a small, polite smile. She did not want anything from Dr. Augsen or anyone else from the Ministry at the moment, the feeling of betrayal too prominent still. "You didn't have to... Do you want me to open it now?"  


Dr. Augsen returned the smile before putting her quill and notebook in the briefcase. "That's up to you." Dr. Augsen stood as she checked her watch. "If you choose not to open it now, though, I understand. I will be on my way as I need to head out to my sister's for tea."  


Hermione nodded and stood up herself after a moment of staring at the gift. "I think I'll wait. I don't want to keep you- I didn't know you had a sister."  


Dr. Augsen laughed. "I have two sisters, but no brothers- unless you count the ones through marriage." Dr. Augsen's nose twitched slightly.. "I can't say I like them very much."  


Hermione cocked her head to the side, interested in the small sliver of personal life Dr. Augsen was talking about. "Are you married, then?" Upon seeing the ring on Dr. Augsen's finger, she asked another question. "What was your maiden name- If that's all right to ask?"  


Dr. Augsen kept smiling but it no longer reached her eyes. "I didn't take his name. He didn't go to Healer school so I saw no reason to put 'Doctor' in front of it." Hermione grinned at her reply, although the topic of family made her heart hurt, and walked Dr. Augsen to the fireplace a few feet away. "I'll see you Wednesday, Hermione."  


"Wednesday, Dr. Augsen."   


Dr. Augsen disappeared into the green flames after announcing her destination to be the Ministry. When Hermione got back to the tower, she threw the gift on to her bed without opening it and put the time-turner back one hour wanting to get as much sleep as she could.  


\---------------------------------------------  


Lucius was working on his third glass of fire whiskey as he sat there, another letter from the Minister on his desk. Fudge was upset that Lucius chose to go around him and go straight to the Wizgamont on the hippogriff issue. Now, Fudge was asking for Lucius to make public statements on muggleborns.  


Lucius grabbed his glass, the letter and kicked his chair over before walking out of his study to search for his wife. "Why can he not request money like a normal person!"  


Lucius thought about summoning Crewe, but the whiskey had somewhat done it's job and dulled the edges of his anger. He decided instead to seek out Narcissa and talk to her about the letter. Throwing the glass on the ground in his last bout of anger, he stormed out of his study in search of her. Getting to the end of the hall, he closed his eyes and tapped into the wards. Sensing she was on the second floor balcony, he went up the stairs to join her. When he slid open the glass door she saw that she had long finished her tea but had a letter of her own pinned beneath the saucer. "Did our Minister grace you with a letter, too?"  


She looked over to him and the look she had made his stomach turn. "No, but our son did." Narcissa turned to look over the garden's again. "Sit, Lucius." Lucius raised an eyebrow and did as she said. He knew she was upset and wondered what Draco could have said to cause such a reaction. Before he could ask if Draco was OK, she continued, "Lucius, did I not tell you to not interfere with Hermione?"  


Lucius raised an eyebrow, surprised, but realized that the answer to his unasked question lay underneath the fine china of her saucer. He plucked it from underneath the small plate and looked it over. Lucius' anger flared up for a second time as Draco not only told his mother of what Lucius informed him but he had also told Hermione. "An accident? How-"  


"Why would you even tell him in the first place? This was not something that concerned him!" Her pupils were near the size of pinpoints and Lucius looked away, not wanting to be under their gaze. "You said you wouldn't interfere!"  


Lucius wanted to wince at the viciousness of her voice. Lucius knew if he told her his full intentions, she'd probably Avada him on the spot, so he took a less honest approach. "I didn't see it as an interference as I had not expected him to tell her, I simply thought Draco should know what business we're involved in. I've been grooming him since he was born to become a proper heir to our name and I saw no reason why I should not let him know what we were going through." Draco had left out that Lucius had encouraged his bullying of Hermione to continue and Lucius was smart enough not to mention it himself.  


Narcissa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she spoke her voice was a deadly calm. "He told her, Lucius."  


"I can see that, something he will be punished for-"  


"No. I think you have done enough." Narcissa got up, picking up her tea cup and saucer. She started to walk inside before she stopped and turned to face him. "Did you even tell him that she did not know?"  


Lucius looked at his wife, his lips pursed as he thought back to when he last had Draco in his study. "I thought it would be implied."  


Narcissa scoffed and placed one hand on her hip. "I don't often interject on how you raise our son, Lucius, but I shouldn't have to remind you _he's just a boy._" Narcissa pulled out her wand to set the letter he still had in his hands ablaze, and walked away.  


Lucius rubbed his face, beyond stressed. Nothing seemed to be going his way ever since Minister Fudge brought Hermione in and he was beyond tired of it. Even drinking- something he usually only did once in a blue or socially- was not helping the amount of stress. Granted he, nor the next five generations of Malfoys, needed to work to live as lavishly as they did, but he was raised to be the Head of House and the Head of House needed to ensure the Malfoys stayed that way. Usually talking to Narcissa helped him sort things out but he knew she was not in a talking mood- and wouldn't be for a week at least. Lucius walked over to the banister and looked over the maze. One of the enchantments were directed to those who stood above the maze and tried to look in, whether on the Manor balconies or flying above the maze; if you were to try to look inside of it, not only would you see the wrong path but you could not see any of the creatures inside. Lucius, having designed the maze and hand-picked the creatures, was able to see past the enchantment and the gaze-repelling charms did not even make him blink.  


Lucius watched the nest of the Acromantula for a while, unable to see much as the giant spider created tunnels with the webs it produced, but then he looked over to the Sphinx all the way to his right. The Sphinx was rolling around on its back, marking her scent in the same field she had been in for over two decades. Lucius thought again how lucky they were that Hermione had not decided to keep to the right wall when she was in the maze as there was a Kelpie guarding the right side. When Lucius gave up on looking into the shimmering pool to find the Kelpie, his eyes fell to the Chimera in the middle of the maze. Every few years he had to venture into the middle of the maze to recast the flame resistant spells to keep it from burning the rest of the maze. The Chimera had its lion head and goat body turned away from him so he watched its dragon tail flick around, the scales flashing brilliantly even from the distance where he stood. Lucius turned to go back in side the manor to drink some more, when an idea struck him from the bright scales leaving spots in his eyes.   
Lucius rushed to the library, drinking forgotten, wanting to confirm the details on the qualifications of being a Minister to verify if his idea would work. Lucius grinned at the thought of finally getting the Minister out of office and hoped the idea would work.  


\---------------------------------------------  


Hermione had slept until dinner time Saturday, and after she ate, she returned back to her common room to reading 'Time-Turners: A History' a third time. She wanted her essay to be perfect so Professor McGonagall would not question Hermione's ability with the time-turner as Hermione was almost breaking one rule. Professor McGonagall instructed her to only use it for classes, but she had also been using it to catch up on school work, sleep, and lost time due to her panic attacks. Hermione told herself that all needed to be addressed for her to pass her classes and she wasn't wrong.   


Despite sleeping half of the day Saturday, Hermione woke up around twelve on her birthday, several gifts piled at her feet. It was almost too easy to identify who the gifts were from just by looking at them; there was the one she received from Dr. Augsen that had the envelope attached, two that had the same brown wrapping paper Harry wrapped her books from Muggle London in- meaning they were from Harry and Ron. There was one wrapping paper that only Molly Weasley used which- judging by the shape- was another sweater. There were also two presents pushed to one side of the bed- one a black, velvet box, the other a velvet coin pouch- both looked expensive and could only be from Lucius and Narcissa.  


Hermione started with Molly's present, a sweater which was primarily Gryffindor Red with a Gold 'G'. Hermione smiled and switched out of her over sized t-shirt for it. She looked down, tracing the black and silver thread Molly had added that outlined the 'G', while she read the note attached:

_To match your other gift- Happy Birthday._  
_-The Weasley Family_  
_P.S. The 'G' is for Granger, not Gryffindor and don't be afraid to correct anyone who mistakes it!_

Hermione smiled at the care Molly put into the sweater as she looked over the rest of the gifts wondering what was supposed to match her sweater. Hermione opened Ron's gift next to find the book was a collection of Emily Dickinson's poems. She was not a fan of poetry as she preferred novels but appreciated the gesture as she would read any book she was given. Harry had gotten Hermione candy- all muggle candy- with most being dark chocolate as it was her favorite flavor. Next, she picked up the black sack, reading the tag that was written neatly in English:

_For your Hogsmeade trips. -L. A. M._

Hermione didn't need to open the bag to know it would be filled with wizard money but she did anyway. What she had not expected was for it to be filled nearly to the brim with nothing but galleons. She made a face but made a note to thank him later anyway. Hermione grabbed the velvet box and was about to open it when Ginny threw open Hermione's bed curtains.  


"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Ginny hugged Hermione and after freeing an arm pinned between them, Hermione returned the hug. Ginny sat down next to her, looking over her gifts. "So, what did you get?" While Ginny was looking over the candy, Hermione grabbed the sack from Lucius and pinned it under her thigh that was not near Ginny. The Weasley family were proud as they were poor and Hermione did not want to risk triggering a rant that she was surely going to hear from Ron later on how the Malfoys used every opportunity to show off, including her birthday.  
"I'm still going through the gifts but my favorite so far is the sweater your mum knitted." Hermione spread her arms so Ginny would see the 'G'.   


Ginny leaned in close to examine the silver thread. "Wicked! Mum only uses that thread for special sweaters, you know. It costs a bit more than normal thread." Ginny crossed her legs. She meant it in a positive way, that Hermione should be honored, but it made Hermione feel guilty and she could feel the galleons digging through the bag, directly into her thigh. Ginny nodded to the box in her hand, "Wassat?"  


Hermione looked down at the box, the lid half way off. "It's from the Malfoy's so probably family jewels." She rolled her eyes and smiled as Ginny laughed at her joke. Hermione struggled with the lid but she took it off, and there there was piece of thick parchment on top of the gift underneath. Narcissa's note was in French and was written in very neat cursive:

_Hermione,_

_I was hoping to have received a letter from you by now, as I was afraid to disturb you, but I could not resist writing today. I wish you many happy returns on your birthday and that our gifts find you well. I look forward to hearing from you soon to hear if these matched your other gift or not._

Kindly,   
Narcissa Midase Malfoy

Hermione felt herself frown in thought, wondering who reached out to whom in Molly and Narcissa collaborating their gifts.  


"She wrote to you in Spanish?" Ginny's head was cocked to the side as she tried to read the note upside down.   
Hermione giggled at the face Ginny made. "No, Gin, it's French." Ginny stood up and stood behind Hermione to see the note properly.   


"Oh! I see that now. I didn't know you knew French."  


Hermione smiled up at her friend, "Oui." Both of the girls giggled as Hermione threw an arm over Hermione's shoulders. When Hermione lifted the parchment she felt her face fall and Ginny gasped.  


"I thought you were joking about family jewels."   


"I thought I was, too." Hermione picked up one of the earrings and turned it over. The earring was gold but held a red gem- she suspected it to be ruby or garnet- and was half the size of the tip of her pinky finger with diamonds dangling from them. The diamonds were a bit smaller than the red gems but just barely.  


"Hermione, they're gorgeous! Are you going to wear them?"  


Hermione dropped the earring into the box and closed it. "No."  


"No? Why not?" Ginny was confused and stared at the velvet box at the end of her bed. "They match the sweater perfectly."  


"They're just-" Hermione stopped herself, hand in the air gesturing to the box, and looked at Ginny. She thought about telling Ginny about what Draco said but not only was Ginny only twelve years old, Hermione had not even told Harry and Ron. "Expensive."  


Ginny sat on the edge of the bed while Hermione grabbed the last gift. "It would be a little fun, you have your ears pierced and you don't wear-"  


"I don't want to, Gin." Hermione detached the envelope from the gift. When she opened the envelope she noticed there was a card and a piece of parchment in it. Hermione read the parchment first while Ginny waited for her to open the gift.

_Hermione,_

_ _This was found in your parent's room when the Ministry had placed the charms on their home. I saw it and I only thought it would be right for you to receive it still. If it does not fit, please let me or Narcissa know and we will resize it for you._ _

_\- Aquila Augsen, M.H._

Hermione stared at the parchment as her heart raced. Hermione thought that she would never see her parents handwriting on anything again but when she opened the card she found her mother's perfect script. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes watered, not allowing her to read the card. Ginny became confused at Hermione's change in mood and backed away, leaving Hermione with her own space. Since she couldn't see the words to well, Hermione grabbed the gift and opened it. Under the wrap was a black ring box. When Hermione opened it, she saw a beautiful and intricate silver and gold ring. The gem set deep in the middle of the silver ring was also red and had gold spikes around it to make it look like a sun. The ring also had alternating black gems and what looked like white diamonds set into the ring. When her tears started to fall and she was able to see better, she found the engraving in it that said that _ You are my Sunshine._ Slipping it on, she did find the ring to be too big so she fought shaky hands to slip it on to her gold necklace that had the cross on it, already deciding she would leave it as is and not have it resized.  


"Hermione!"   


Hermione got up from her four-poster bed and stood by what was once the stairwell to the girls dorm but was now a slide. "Harry?"  


"Come down! What's wrong?!" Ron yelled and Hemione didn't have to hear Harry hitting Ron for asking that particular question to know it happened.  


"I'm okay! Did you guys try to come up?"  


"Yeah! Ginny told us you were- Ow! Harry!"  


Hermione chuckled as she wiped at her face. "If you would read _Hogwarts: A History_ you would know the girl's stairs were charmed so boys can't come up here!"  


"Are the boys charmed?" Ron asked curiously.  


"No, they found that boys were less trustworthy than girls."  


"Well, that's not right!" Ron's voice reached a high pitch when it cracked that made Hermione giggle briefly.  
"Enough- you know we're never going to read that, Hermione! Just come down!" Despite what he said, she knew Harry was smiling as he interrupted the two.  


Hermione glanced back at the bed which had one of her bed curtain's open. Hermine knew she wasn't going to leave until she read the letter. "Dr. Augsen sent me something from my parents. I think it's best if I stayed up here until I'm done."  


The bottom of the stairs were quiet for nearly a minute and Hermione wondered if they had left. She had turned to return to her bed when she heard Ron again. "We'll save you some food from lunch then. Happy Birthday 'Mione."  


Hermione's stomach grumbled at the mention of food but she ignored it. "Thank you!"   


Hermione walked back to her bed, which now had Crookshanks on one of her pillows, and sat on it. Making sure all the curtains were closed, she cast a non-permanent sticking charm to them so they could not be opened from the side. Hermione then cast a silencing harm on herself- something that she had done before sleep when she had not taken the sleeping draught so she would not disturb her roommates when waking up from her nightmares. Hermione pushed the rest of her gifts to the foot of her bed as she grabbed the card and settled under the covers. Hermione fingered the ribbon on the front of the card with a shaking finger thinking how it was so like her mother to have a gift ready months before hand- a trait Hermione had picked up and applied to school. Finally, she steadied her breathing and opened the card;

_Our Dearest Hermione,_

_We tell you this every year, but every year it still rings true: Your birthday was the happiest day of our lives. We miss spending your birthday together but know that you're in good hands as you grow into the awe-inspiring person you were always meant to be. Your father and I look forward to next summer when you come back a half inch taller and a few months wiser. _  
_We may have been slow on the uptake of you being a wizard but no matter what you are or who you grow into, you will always be our sunshine. Class rings are given when someone graduates but we wanted something that you could look at throughout the day and know you have a family that loves you. Considering we were hard pressed to find a shop in London to make a class ring for Hogwarts, we tried to keep to the Gryffindor colors while looking for the perfect thing to remind you that you're not just our world, but the sun our worlds rely on. Happy Birthday, Sunshine._

_Love,_  
_Mum and Dad_

Reading the card made Hermione feel as if she was back in her parents house on the day of the funeral. All of the wounds Hermione was trying to distract herself from seemed to open at once and she felt lost once again. She felt panic at the thought of the years ahead of her where she had navigate life without her parent as her parents had always been there for her, wanting to guide her in the best way they knew how. Now she was alone. Hermione went into the Malfoy's home knowing she would be nothing more than tolerated at best, but having the knowledge that the Minister had to force the Malfoy's into taking her in made that knowledge that much heavier on her to the point it was crushing. Hermione threw the card on top of the rest of her gifts, gripping her head as she silently cried and mourned her loss, again. She felt as if her very body was both being pulled apart atom by atom but also being pushed onto herself to the point of collapse. It was a personal hell that had her wishing she would have died with her parents.  


\----------------  
"How are you, Hermione? I hope you made the most out of your birthday?" Dr. Augsen looked the girl up and down. Hermione had dark circles under her eyes and looked as if she had not eaten since the last time she saw her.  


"You always ask me how I'm doing. Why is that?" Dr. Augsen stared at Hermione, her lips parted at the sharpness of not just her voice but her gaze. She had never gotten anything more than a polite 'I'm fine' and Dr. Augsen felt like she was looking at a slightly different Hermione- one who was moving into other stages of grief, like anger.  


"Did something happen since I was last here?"  


Hermione stared at Dr. Augsen and without answering her question, asked her own. "How was tea with your sister?"   


"It was fine, but I believe I asked you a question first."  


When Dr. Augsen said she was fine Hermione's eyebrows had raised and she silently mouthed 'Oh.' "Was her husband there, then?"  


Dr. Augsen gave a professional smile. Dr. Augsen knew the session today would not be an easy one. "We have these meetings to talk about you, Hermione." Hermione pursed her lips and nodded once, choosing not to continue. Dr. Augsen leaned forward so her elbows were on her knees deciding a direct approach. "So tell me, what happened in the last few weeks?" Hermione's shifted her posture at the question, uncomfortable that her therapist knew something was the matter, and Dr. Augsen smiled as she elaborated. "I noticed over our past few meetings you had been different. Distant. We are supposed to trust each other."  


Hermione felt her anger slam into her just like it had when Crabbe had brought up her mother on the train. Hermione was beyond caring about controlling herself. "_Trust?_" Hermione said the word slowly, staring at Dr. Augsen.  


"Yes, I believe I mentioned in our earlier meetings it was required for you to get better." Dr. Augsen resisted the urge to frown at where the conversation was heading.  


Hermione opened her mouth for a rebuttal but stopped herself, her anger causing her to act before she thought. "Do you like your boss? Minister Fudge?"   


Dr. Augsen raised an eyebrow. "Hermione, I think-"  


"This has to do with my most recent behavior, Doctor." Hermione gave her own polite smile as she watched her therapist intensely. Hermione's hands were in a fist and she felt the edges of her fidget cube dig into her skin.  


"Very well. I think he is a great boss." Hermione frowned but nodded, not sure if she accepted the answer. Hermione was quite but knew Dr. Augsen was waiting for her to speak.  


"I know Minister Fudge forced the Malfoy's to take me in." Hermione had spoke confidently and even the fire next to them seemed to stop crackling. Hermione knew that she would be able to get some form of confirmation on the accusation this way. Hermione did not deny that it could have just been something Draco or Lucius made up but she believed it as it made the most sense.  


Dr. Augsen felt the blood rise to her cheeks. "And who informed you of this?" Dr. Augsen's notebook scribbled furiously in the background once she spoke to break the silence.  


"So it is true?" Hermione's eyes went wide before her face was contorted in anger. The confirmation coming from her therapist coming as a complete shock. She had expected Dr. Augsen to deny the statement or make an excuse. "I'm just a bloody pawn?! Why? Have I not been through enough?" Hermione stood up, too angry for tears as she stared at her therapist. "You want me to trust you when you knew this whole time?! You knew that Minister Fudge has some vendetta with the Malfoys, that he decided to punish them by using me? Disregarding how I felt entirely like I'm some sow to be sold?"  


Dr. Augsen thought about back peddling but knew that it would only cause Hermione to shut her out again and become even more angry. "Would it have helped you in anyway? I know you're upset-"  


"_Upset_?" Hermione repeated slowly but fiercely. McGonagall's desk that was beside them with a tray of biscuits and tea that had started to rattle with every syllable she yelled.  


"Angry," Dr. Augsen amended. "But I ask for you to not only calm yourself before you break something that is not yours in your Head's office but also to think back to how you were in our earlier sessions. How would that information have helped you? Look at how you're acting now with the knowledge of everything I have taught you."  


Hermione crossed her arms over her chest knowing she was right but still kept her hard demeanor. She didn't speak until the cutlery and desk had stopped shaking. When she spoke, she spoke low and her own voice shook instead. "I already knew I wasn't wanted there but the fact I had to be forced into someone's home because I had no where else to go, _hurts_. Especially since Narcissa has been so nice- It was all just to appease a bloody minister who blackmailed them- Something completely illegal, mind you." Hermione felt a few tears finally slip out and she wiped at them furiously. Hermione thought she hated how easily she cried before but it was nothing compared to the hate she harbored for her tears now.  
Dr. Augsen was quite as she studied the girl, shocked again that she was mentally more mature than she should be. "If I tell you something honestly, can you promise me you will not talk about it to anyone else?"  


Hermione watched the therapist carefully for any sign that she had intentions on lying to her but found none. Hermione nodded, "I promise."  


Dr. Augsen waved her wand and her notebook and quill fell to the floor. Dr. Augsen removed her glasses and looked at Hermione. "Has Narcissa given you the impression that she would allow herself to be bullied around?"  


Hermione sniffed and looked away from Dr. Augsen as she thought about how Lucius and Narcissa interacted with each other. While Hermione was not the most charismatic person, she understood that Narcissa was the one who allowed Lucius to act how he did. Any thing that might have been a disrespect to her she automatically shut down. "No, but Fudge is the Minister, he _blackmailed_ them. He can ruin-"  


"If she wants to be nice to you, it's because she wants to be. While Fudge _is_ the Minister and he can _threaten_ Narcissa, it means nothing to her. On the outside, it may appear like you are not wanted but you are in their home because she allows it."  


"That's ominous." Hermione sat down, her thoughts going a mile a minute as she accepted what Dr. Augsen said. It answered her concerns but raised questions. "How do you know her so well? Are you close? I thought that would be a bit of a conflict of interest if you are." Hermione's eyebrows came together as Dr. Augsen resumed her self writing quill and notebook.   


Dr. Augsen looked as if she was looking to a far away place when she answered. "Once. We were both in Slytherin at one point."  


"Slytherin? I would have thought..." Hermione let her voice trail off realizing how she was making the same assumption others made of her.   


"Ravenclaw?" Dr. Augsen laughed. "To be frank, I think the whole house sorting thing is a bit of rubbish and a play on perspectives." Dr. Augsen put her glasses back on and motioned for Hermione to sit. "Did I satisfy any concerns or doubts you may have had?"  


Hermione sat, her arms still wrapped around herself. "About where I stand with the Malfoy's? I think it's safe to say so but what does Minister Fudge have against the Malfoys?"  


Dr. Augsen cocked her head to the side wondering how much Hermione already knew. "I wouldn't be able to answer that question but I do not believe Fudge has anything against the Malfoys. I think, well, he has his own reasons... Reasons I don't know." Dr. Augsen slipped the lie in while giving Hermione a sad look. Dr. Augsen did not see the information of the Minister of Magic being a spineless, conceited coward helping Hermione and decided it was best to keep it to herself. Dr. Augsen was relieved for Hemione's anger to be defused as she accepted the lie that was offered.   


Hermione placed her hand over her first necklace, that she also hid under her sweater now to avoid people asking questions, and pressed into the spikes on the ring. It had already become a new habit she developed. Feeling the spikes helped remind her of her parents love, just as they intended, and she felt a bit more grounded as she focused on coming back down from the roller coaster of emotions. "Did you talk to Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Malfoy about the ring my parents had gotten me?"  


Dr. Augsen smiled, showing her perfectly white teeth. "I did. I hope that was okay."  


Hermione returned the smile, answering honestly. "It was, the gifts were beautiful and they mean so much to me already." Hermione felt a bit of guilt now that she still had not worn the earrings but not only felt they were flashy, she was upset at the thought Narcissa had not been genuine with her.   


Hermione looked down at her lap, processing again the new information she learned. Hermione felt she could trust not just Narcissa now- although it was very little trust considering she was part of the reason why Draco is the way he is- but she also trusted Dr. Augsen. "Will talking about their deaths really help?"   


"Yes. With cognitive behavioral therapy the goal is to change your way of living with the trauma. With everything I had taught you so far, it would allow us to further our sessions and progress in your healing." Dr. Augsen held her breath, hoping that she would finally be able to assess what had happened.  


"Okay." Hermione sniffed as her eyes watered. Hermione pressed her fingers into the ring a bit harder and took a deep breath. It was going to be hard but after having her questions addressed it deepened her determination to be better. "Today then."  


Dr. Augsen nodded and flicked her wand. "_ Expecto Patronum_." A silver hare sprouted from the tip of her wand. "Please let Professor McGonagall know that our session may run a bit long and any extended time she is willing to permit would be appreciated." The Hare ran off and disappeared through the door. Hermione made a mental note to look into the spell later as it seemed to be very convenient. Dr. Augsen approached Hermione and cast several charms over her head. "Narcissa informed me that you seem to develop migraines every time you have a flashback. I do not know if this will work but it won't hurt to try. If you feel anything, let me know and we will stop."  


Dr. Augsen laid back in her chair and watched Hermione intensely. The charms seemed to work as Hermione seemingly had no issues when talking at her own pace about her last day in France. Hermione started from the morning again as Dr. Augsen listened with a somber expression. When she got to the part where she had stopped last time, Hermione had suddenly stopped talking.   


When she continued, she straightened up as she looked forward, repeating what she remembered;  


_"... neither of them should have gotten to be with her!" Hermione threw her hands in the air, making her parents laugh. "The music was great, but I can't say I liked the story very much."_  


_"What do you mean the Phantom shouldn't have been with her? He gave Christine his music!" William Granger had his hands in his pocket while he walked with his daughter and his wife, eyes twinkling from amusement as he watched them both with love in his eyes._  


_"He also pretended to be her father's ghost and then attempted to induce Stockholm syndrome when he kidnapped her."_  


_"All good points, but why don't you think she should be with Roul?" Jean Granger gripped her purse absentmindedly as she walked. What Hermione didn't know was her parents placed a bet on who Hermione would like for Christine to be with. Neither thought Hermione would think Christine should have turned both men down._  


_Hermione had made a face. "Their relationship was founded on one summer they spent together over ten years ago and he thought he could come back into her life to push her around. Granted she let him but I think he was manipulating her fear of the Phantom." _  


_"That's my girl." William place a hand on Hermione's shoulder pulling her into a hug, then looked at his wife, grinning mischievously. "Which is why if she had to choose, Hermione would choose the Phantom."_  


_Jean swatted her husband's arm playfully, "She didn't-" Jean was cut off by a man stepping in front of them in a large trench coat, one too warm for the summer. Hermione was immediately pushed behind her father by Jean who stood by her husband's side. Pearing on the other side of her father, Hermione could see the man had a gun in his hand, pointed at her parents. Hermione patted her side for her wand and for the first time wanted to shout an expletive in anger when she realized it was not on her person. Hermione grabbed the back of her father's coat, shaking out of the fear she felt. _  


_"_What is it you're needing, sir? You should put that down before someone gets hurt._" Hermione listened closely feeling her adrenaline kick in automatically. Her mind was racing as she tried to remember all she could about wandless magic._  


_"_Your daughter._"Hermione could hear the man laugh over Jean's sharp intake of breath. The laugh was completely maniacal and Hermione put a hand over her mouth as she shook with fear. Jean took a step to put herself between Hermione and William, further shielding Hermione with an arm._  


__

__

_ William's voice was completely tense when he spoke again but he tried again to defuse the situation. _"_If it's money you're after, we can give you ours, please-" _   


_ At that moment Jean grabbed Hermione and tried to run but the first bullet caught her shoulder then the second caught her back, splattering blood on Hermione as Jean fell. Hermione flipped her mother over to see blood gurgling out of her mouth. Time seemed to slow and Hermione thought breifly about how the blood would stain her mother's perfect teeth. She screamed for her mother for what felt like hours and did not stop screaming until she saw her father's shadow leave her side as he charged at the shooter. Hermione remembered feeling her brain seem to start kick start again, breaking her from her shock as she thought to try and protect her dad. _  


_She turned, using everything she had to focus her intent to cast a shield around her father. Hermione threw her hands in front of her to cast the _protego_ shield charm and the timing was perfect to block William from the next spray of bullets but the shield did not move past her. Hermione screamed as she watched her father fall to the ground, not even processing the would be fatal stray bullet that broke her shield._   


_ Hermione's screaming had gotten the attention of a cop not too far away and had intervened before the man could grab Hermione, who completely forgot that he was even there until she heard the cop's gun go off, killing him, stopping her screams from the shock once again._   


Dr. Augsen watched Hermione's face as she spoke, her own anger rising and shaking the tea set on the professors desk for a brief second before she took control of her own magic. Hermione's face was still twisted in pain but her eyes were blank as she spoke, her voice trembling but monotone at the same time. They were signs Dr. Augsen recognized as someone having their memories seriously tampered with and it infuriated her to no end. Dr. Augsen thought it made sense to her now that Fudge wanted her to get Hermione to talk about had happened- he wanted to make sure the memory charm he had placed on her worked.  


Once Hermione snapped out of it, she began to ball. Dr. Augsen sat there for a second, briefly considering if she should humor herself and ask if Hermione knew she had stopped crying while telling the worst part but knew Hermione couldn't remember her odd behavior. Dr. Augsen cast another healing charm on Hermione's head before hugging her. Hermione, wrapped her arms around Dr. Augsen, not realizing the stiff posture her therapist had from the anger her therapist felt. "It's all my fault!"  


"You're OK, it wasn't your fault, Hermione." Dr. Augsen smoothed the back of Hermione's head as she spoke. Neither of them moved apart until Professor McGonagall knocked on the door. Dr. Augsen cupped Hermione's face in her hands. "I'll have them send food to your room. You should rest. I imagine this is not going to sit well with your head."   


Hermione nodded, her eyes were bloodshot and she felt like a wet rag that had been beaten against a pole to dry. Hermione could feel a slight headache and was thankful Dr. Augsen was knowledgeable enough to stop the would be migraine and flashback. Hermione never noticed how tense Dr. Augsen was and how pink her face was. When Hermione reached for the door, Dr. Augsen's voice stopped her. "I want you to know I'm proud of you, Hermione."  


Hermone looked back over her shoulder and tried to give a smile but knew it probably looked like a grimace. Hermione slipped out without saying a word to McGonagall as she shuffled to Gryffindor Tower, feeling as if she belonged in a rubbish bin but also feeling as if a bit of weight had been lifted from her shoulders.  


\-----------------  


Draco sat on the stairs going up to the seventh floor by himself. Draco assumed Hermione still had her session's with Dr. Augsen on Sundays and Wednesdays but did not know where they were held. Draco had also figured out that the Gryffindor common room was somewhere on the seventh floor but not only would it look suspicious for a Slytherin to be on the seventh floor when their common room was in a dungeon, it would cause other students to ask questions.  


Draco laid his head back and looked up at the sun filtering through the windows in the high ceiling of the stairway. As much as he hated the sun, he enjoyed watching the colors it painted the world around him. He couldn't see where the sun was exactly but he imagined it must have been close to dinner time as his stomach was growling.   


He flipped the envelope in his hands, waiting for Hermione to appear. His mother wanted him to make up for what he had said and Draco took his time to do it. Draco wanted to say he felt no obligation to give an apology and was doing it solely for his mother, but he could even see from his regular seat at the Slytherin table how his words had affected her over the past couple of weeks. Draco did tell himself, though, he did not feel guilty, just responsible for her suffering. He placed a hand over his eyes, rubbing them simultaneously with his thumb and index finger. He heard footsteps but didn't move until they had clearly passed him. Draco looked up out of curiosity at the lack of commentary the person made in regards to him being draped over the stairs and saw a familiar silhouette ascending the stairs.  


"Granger!" Draco scrambled to flip himself over and climb up the steps. Hermione heard him call out but continued to climb up the steps to the seventh floor. "Granger, stop!" Draco had finally caught up to her and grabbed her arm, attempting to swing her around.   


What he did not see was that her wand was already drawn and had been pushed against his neck with the momentum of him pulling her back. "What do you WANT, Malfoy?" Hermione was breathing hard and he could feel her hand shaking through her wand.  


Draco looked at her then looked away. He noticed that every time he looked at her, his former image of her became more and more broken. Last year she was a normal Griffindor girl to him- shrilly, confident, and a show off (in her own way) - now she was quite, mousy and weepy. He didn't say anything at first, partially out of intimidation, and held out the envelope to her. "Get your wand out of my face, mud-"  


"When are you going to stop calling me that?" He looked back at her and noticed her eyes were still bloodshot but her eyes were narrowed. Draco also became acutely aware that her wand was no longer shaking. "You must have noticed by now you hardly get a reaction from me when you call me that." They stayed like that for a while and this time Draco did not say anything, completely intimidated by her lack of shaking that she had full intentions of hexing him without a second thought if he continued to push her. Hermione glanced down to the envelope then looked back up at him, deciding to withdraw her wand without taking the envelope. Hermione continued her trek up the stairs but Draco was determined, just like he was with Trevor in Snape's class.   


He raced up the stairs and stood in her way. "I didn't come from the literal depths of the castle, gracing you with my presence, for you to just brush me off."  


Hermione's eyes narrowed again and he watched her hand that still had the wand twitch. "Really? Cause it looks like that's exactly what's happening." Hermione stepped to the side but Draco mirrored her. Hermione huffed and stepped to the side once more which he again mirrored. Hermione ran a hand over her mess of hair, "What? What do you want?" Hermione tried yelling again but her voice cracked.  


Draco's eyes widened as he watched hers water and the rest of her face go red. He mentally cursed himself for making her upset again and realized that if his mother heard about it, she would send more than a howler this time. "I didn't mean to upset you. Now or last time." Hermione pressed the balls of her palms into her eyes before looking up at him, which made him look away. Draco wanted to tell her a lot at that moment, like how he was only doing this because it was an obligation and not due to the fact he was bothered by her constant negative mood. He wanted to tell her that she needed to pull herself up from the rut of her parents grave and accept it but knew that would do nothing to help her or himself as she would kill him before his mother could. Draco wanted her to stop giving him a reason to sympathize with her and ruin his father's teachings. "I should not have said what I said."  


He heard her sniffle and he mentally cursed her for not taking the envelope already. He was about to demand she take it so he could be free of her presence but she spoke. "I suppose not but I should thank you for it. Or at least I should in the future if my sessions go well with Dr. Augsen. Right now I feel like rubbish." Draco looked at her and she reminded him of a baby bird that fell out of its nest that Lucius and him had stumbled across on one of their 'walks.' Draco remembered how heartbroken and scared it's chirping sounded before Lucius had killed it, putting it out of its misery. Hermione took the envelope and took a side step on the stair again. When he did not move, she continued up the stairs.  


"Why did you lie for me? When I kicked your books?" Draco wasn't sure why he asked the question as he had not thought of it till now, but now that he had, he felt the burning need to know the answer.  


Hermione half turned on the staircase to look at him. "Payback. For saving Neville's toad." Draco nodded once then headed down the stairs to head back to the Slytherin common room, thinking about how he was relieved she had lied not to be nice or start a friendship.  


Hermione continued up to the Fat Lady portrait, relieved to be rid of Draco, and climbed into the common room. She had almost made it to the girls dorm when she heard a familiar "Meeeoooooowwwuuuffff" coming from one of the cabinets in the common room. Opening it up, Crookshanks jumped out and stretched before rubbing himself over her ankles. She frowned looking at the half-kneazle. "I hope no one had stuffed you in there." Hermione picked up the half-kneazle, and knuzzled his fur before climbing into bed, putting Draco's envelope in her bed side drawer to be forgotten.


	12. Year Three: Part III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have noticed quite a few comments where people say they have binged my fic. If this is you, let me ask: Have you drank water? Have you eaten yet? What about your medicine? Are your shoulders aching? Maybe it's time to do a five minute stretch - The fic will still be here when you finish!
> 
> TW: Self hate mention and Depression.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time," Hermione said. "They're bound to catch Black soon. He's been sighted once already."

"Yeah, sure." Harry, sat dejectedly in his seat. He was still stiff, wet and cold from the quidditch practice he just got back from. The early October weather was even more unforgiving than September's. The sky was always a gloomy, dreary grey, and the rain never seemed to stop anymore. Ron and Hermione were working on their star charts when he came in, complaining that he never had the time to finish his. She looked at her best friend with sad expression on her face, handing him parchment so he could work on his star chart.

"Harry, you should ask MGonagall-"

"_Ron!_" Hermione looked at her ginger best friend in disbelief. "Harry's supposed to stay in school-"

"He can't be the only third year left behind! Ask McGonagall, Harry."

"He _won't _be the only third year left behind, Ron, I'm not going either!" Hermione motioned to herself just as Crookshanks jumped into her lap with a dead spider in his mouth. Ron looked a little green seeing the spider and took leaned away, holding his own star chart up in defense. "Does he have to eat that in front of us?"

Hermione shot Ron a glare as she scratched Crookshanks back. "Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" Crookshanks slowly chewed the spider, his eyes fixed onto Ron's bag.

"Just keep him over there, that's all," Ron said, handing Harry his own star chart. "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag. Here, Harry, just copy mine."

Hermione pursed her lips, wondering if she should point out that star charts are unique to everyone, but decided to let Professor Trelawny tell them so they could learn their lesson on not copying each other. Hermione opened her mouth to express how she felt about Ron's attitude towards Crookshanks but Harry interrupted, not wanting them to bicker around him again about Crookshanks. "What do you mean you're not going to Hogsmead?"

Hermione looked over to Harry and shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not interested. Especially since both of my best friend's won't be there. I would rather stay in the castle with you." She looked down at her own star chart so she did not have to meet their eyes. Her anxiety always spiked when she thought about leaving the safety of Hogwarts grounds as thought it was the safest place for them and refused to think about leaving.

"What about me? None of _my _best friends are going to be there!" Ron looked between the both of them, growing despondent.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, still miffed about how he treated Crookshanks. "You have Scabbers."

Ron started to turn a light shade of pink, getting worked up again but at that moment Crookshanks pounced on him- or rather Ron's bag- and started to tear at it, claws completely out.

"OY!" Ron roared, seizing his bag as Crookshanks continued to tear at the fabric. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

Ron swung the bag around, and seeing that her cat was now in danger, Hermione jumped up from her seat. "Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione tried to stop Ron from swinging his bag while the whole common room watched. Ron whirled his bag around one last time as Scabbers came flying out of the top.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself with predatory ease from the bag to chase after the terrified Scabbers.

Several of the amused Gryffindors watched as George Weasley, Ron and Hermione tried to catch Crookshanks. After a few minutes, Scabbers had managed to get underneath an old chest of drawers where Crookshanks could not fully follow. Hermione grabbed Crookshanks by the middle and pulled him away, claws still reaching for Scabbers, creating tears in the red rug. Ron threw himself on to his stomach and pulled Scabbers out by the tail.

"Look at him!" Ron said furiously to Hermione as he dangled Scabbers in front of her. Crookshanks tense for another lunge and Hermione stepped back and turned to prevent Crookshanks from jumping at Scabbers again.

"All cats chase rats, Ron! He doesn't know it's wrong!"

Ron was trying to put a frantic Scabbers back in his pocket but Scabbers was wriggling too much. "That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" Ron started to march up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!"

Hermione locked eyes with Harry who shrugged his shoulders before turning back to his own star chart. Hermione, no longer in the mood to socialize, returned to her own bed where she snuggled in bed next to Crookshanks. Hermione opened her drawer to read the book she had on hand but saw that the collections of Emily Dickens poems was on top of everything. Cross with Ron, Hermione pushed the book to the back of the drawer, not wanting to think of him. The force that she used caused it to hit the back of the drawer, dragging several papers with it, revealing a black envelope.

Hermione lifted the envelope and flipped it over, and seeing the silver Malfoy crest, remembering that Draco had given it to her last month. Hermione sat there for a second thinking about how time seemed to both crawl and fly by her at the same time. She pursed her lips, thinking if it was worth finally opening but decided against it. Draco was still a prat and a bully- she didn't want to risk opening anything gifted by him that may be cursed. Hermione attempted to sleep but between Ron and her curiosity on the contents of the letter, she was wide awake. Her curiosity that fueled her adventures with Ron and Harry were starting to reawaken with each session Dr. Augsen and her had, which kept her up, thinking about what Draco Malfoy had placed in the envelope.

Hermione was wary of Draco as he still sneered and jeered at the three of them but in retrospect, he was no where near as vile as he was last year with the Basilisk slithering about Hogwarts. Hermione frowned, now that she was thinking about it, none of the Slytherin's were as bad to her as they were last year with Blaise Zabini even being polite and cordial to her when they were paired for an Ancient Runes project. Hermione wondered if Lucius had threatened their families on their behalf as Narcissa insisted she was a part of them now, (Hermione still could not think of _them _as 'family') but dismissed the idea as being ludicrous.

Seeing as sleep was not going to come to her in the middle of the day, Hermione left to go to the Library as it was original place of solstice in the castle. She looked at Crookshanks and scratched his ear. "Please be good while I'm gone." The half-kneazle looked into her eyes and huffed out of it's nose before curling into a ball, watching her leave the girls dormitory with his round yellow eyes.

———————

Draco Malfoy walked down the hall, frustrated at Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. He could not find Blaise or Theo anywhere so he decided to grab some of his textbooks and head to the library. He was done with the homework for the week but lied to his usual trio to get peace and quiet from them. He knew they would not follow as they were complete duffers who hated the library.

The library was primarily empty and he started to walk to his favorite spot in the back of the library when he turned around one of the shelves and saw Hermione. She was one of the other reason he was in a sour mood today. The envelope he gave her was charmed with a twin that would also pop open when she opened the one he gave her so he knew she did not open it and was insulted. Draco told himself that he did not care if she opened it or not but it made his task his mother gave him pointless. He thought about other ways to get her to either open it or accept his apology but none seemed plausible or something she would easily fall for.

"What are you doing here?" She jumped, dropping the book she had but she caught it pinning it with her knee against the shelf.

"Ow." She picked it up and rubbed her knee before looking at him. "Are mudbloods not allowed to be in a public library?" She slid the book back into the shelf and continued to search for the book she was looking for.

"Well, after the 1920's I suppose it's legal so I can't complain- legally." He leaned against the shelf, sizing her up, his face scrunched up as if he smelled something disgusting. Hermione was wearing trainers, jeans and the sweater Molly had sent with her hair thrown into a messy bun. Draco thought if she wasn't wearing the ruby and diamond earrings his mother sent Hermione, she would have looked completely homeless.

Hermione felt her annoyance creep up and build on top of the anger she still felt for Ron. Hermione did not want to be annoyed further in the one place she felt she could almost be happy, and she thought hard of what to say to get Draco to leave. "Careful, Malfoy, you're starting to sound like a blood traitor, talking about tolerance and what not." Hermione pretended she finally found the book she was looking for and stood on her toes, completely pressed against the shelf, using her middle finger to catch the edge of the random book and coax it closer.

Draco looked as if she had slapped him in the face by what she said _and she wasn't even paying attention to him. _He reached up and slammed the book she was reaching for back into the shelf. She turned, glaring at him but he had come so close that he was completely looming over her, practically pinning her to the shelf. Hermione was completely caught off guard and was frozen by his angry, gray eyes. "You want to make rules about what we do or don't mention? Fine, here's mine: Don't talk about my lineage, Scum." He stalked off, finding his favorite place of solstice, even more upset than when he came in. _If she wants to act like that, fine. I'm not going to try and make amends anymore._

Hermione, however, had sank into the shelf behind her. Hermione thought that playing at his game of bully would make her feel better, or even superior but it ended up making her feel worse- guilty even. Hermione knew it was something neither of them had control over and she still insulted him over it, knowing it was something that would cause a reaction.

Hermione sat there for a while, thinking of different ways how she could apologize, forgetting that she was trying to find what 'light spell' she saw Dr. Augsen used weeks ago.

———————

The next few weeks were not easy for Hermione. Ron was not talking to her unless it was to make her feel guilty about Scabbers, Lavender and everyone else in her Divination class thought she was bitter due to the scene Lavender and her had in regards to Lavender's rabbit and Draco's bullying intensified- although he still never brought up her parents.

"Maybe you should just apologize to Lavender." Ginny bit into a Berty Bott's Every Flavor Bean and was pleasantly surprised that the flavor was vanilla instead of bird dung. Classes had ended for the day and they were walking back to the Gryiffindor Commons.

Hermione groaned. "I tried but every time I do she just glares at me and Ron starts talking about how I don't care about other people's pets! I feel bad that her rabbit died but Trelawney is a quack. I don't believe she predicted the death of a baby rabbit." Hermione shifted her bag and heard it rip again. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose to stop herself from crying as Ginny started to collect her books. "Nothing is going right, Gin." Her voice shook and she pinched her bridge hard to try and stop the waterworks.

Hermione cast a reparo as Ginny put the books back in her bag. "You should get another bag, Hermione. Reparo doesn't work very well on fabric." Ginny had noticed Hermione starting to cry, but like Harry most of the time, she didn't know what to do and tried to direct her attention to other things. Hermione had nodded but didn't say anything. With the lump her throat, she stayed quiet as Ginny awkwardly talked the rest of the way back to the common room. Feeling completely overwhelmed, she went straight to her bed and placed her head in her hands. Hermione briefly thought about finding harry and talking to him but even he was slightly cross with her as she supported McGonagall not signing his permission slip to go to Hogsmeade.

Opening her bedside drawer, Hermione fished around for the black envelope. When she found it she flipped it over, looking at the silver seal. She ran a finger over it, wondering if she should open the letter as she imagined again that it could have been cursed. Her eyes watered again as she tore it open, _If it is cursed, I probably deserve it now. _Hermione pulled out the parchment tucked inside and found a sketch- a very good sketch. It was Persephone, Hermione's owl, perched on a pomegranate tree. The tree also had flowers that she didn't recognize but she didn't care about the accuracy of the tree as it was just that good. There was nothing else in the envelope so she flipped over the sketch to find a message- also written in French. Narcissa had explained in her reply to Hermione's first letter to her that they had often sent their letters to each other this way for some privacy, so Hermione was not surprised to see Draco do the same.

_Many happy returns to you on your birthday. I originally drew this for myself but thought it would be better appreciated if you had it. I'll be livid to find out it had been thrown away._

_I'm not sure if you know, as it's not listed in Hogwarts: A History (a book I wish you would stop bringing up in class), Hogwarts has four music rooms- one for each orchestra family. The String's room is located on the third floor, behind the Gold Hogwart's Crest tapestry._

_You're welcome._

Hermione read the note and wondered how someone could still sound like such a prat through a note. She read it several times more before tapping it against her other hand, thinking about the room he referred to. A room that had a cello for her to play. She imagined it could have been a trap... but her birthday was over a month ago, as the Hogsmeade trip was this weekend. Hermione missed her father's cello, even though she hadn't played it in so long.

Hermione bit her lip weighing the pros and cons. A cello vs a possible trap. Making her decision, she got up and changed, petting a sleeping Crookshanks on the way out. When she got down to the common room where Ron and Harry were playing wizard's chest, they both looked up at her but Ron immediately turned back around.

Harry had looked more and more depressed as the days got closer to their first Hogsmeade trip and with today being the Friday evening before the trip, he looked only half interested in the game. "Hey, Hermione."

"Hey, Harry." She walked over to him and put a hand in between his shoulder blades. Hermione looked at the chess board and Harry's pieces were yelling at him, telling him different plays to make as there were only five left while Ron nearly had a full board. Hermione frowned, "I doubt the chess pieces are helping with your mood, Harry. Maybe you sho-"

"Going to keep telling everyone what they should be doing, 'Mione?"

"_Ron-_" Hermione crossed her arms as she turned to look at her friend. She cut herself off and counted down from ten, slowly. They had been fighting for weeks and she was more than tired of it. "How's Scabber's?" Her voice was tight but it was clear she no longer wanted to argue.

"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking." Ron nearly spat out the last word as he moved his next piece, taking one of Harry's knights. Harry groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

Hermione turned back to Harry, ignoring Ron completely now. "I'll see you later, Harry." She left without looking at either of them, furious once again over Ron. She kicked open the portrait door, making the Fat Lady exclaim with an "Oof!"

"Sorry!" Hermione was more gentle with closing the door before apologizing. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"Hmpf!" The lady looked away from her and fanned herself, flipping her curls over her shoulder.

Hermione shook her head, storming down the stairs. She could feel the wind on her face as she trod down the four stories to the third floor from how red her face was with anger. Once she was on the third floor, she pulled out her wand, reveling in the security it assured her. She was excited to be discovering something new but she knew she needed to be cautious and the feel of her wand in her hand assured her like nothing else. Hermione walked to one end of the hall, looking at every tapestry hung, all representing the different houses, the different lessons offered at Hogwarts then finally one with all the Hogwarts' houses but it was completely gray. Hermione didn't think she remembered a monotone tapestry in any part of the castle- but then she suddenly remembered that Harry had given her a work book she never started.

Hermione looked away from the tapestry, turning to go back to the commons but then she thought about how long it had been since she had played a cello and turned back, thinking she may have missed the gold tapestry. Hermione walked all the way to the end, wondering if there was a secret tapestry but did not find one. She thought she would explore the other end of the hall when the monotone tapestry had moved. Hermione gripped her wand tighter but did not raise it, even when Draco appeared from behind it.

"Malfoy?" Draco looked up immediately, obviously not expecting someone to be there. Before either of them could say anything, the tapestry returned to its true color of gold with the Hogwarts Crest completely colored in. "Oh!" Suddenly the fact that she was reminded of Harry's workbook out of the blue made sense to her- the tapestry was charmed to repel other wizards when occupied and caused them to think of things they needed to address. "How interesting."

"So, you finally opened it?" Draco watched her with a sneer, his hands were in his robe's pocket.

Hermione nodded, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "You're a really good artist." She fidgeted as he watched her, not saying anything. It was the first time they were alone in weeks "I'm sorry for saying what I said in the library. It-"

"You know mother and I do not accept verbal apologies." His eyes twinkled as he spoke with his regular drawl and Hermione squeezed her wand. "How about you play something for me?" He nodded his chin towards the tapestry and Hermione immediately crossed her arms.

"No." Hermione felt defensive and shook her head in indignation. Music, specifically her playing the cello was too close to her parents for her and that was something she could not see her sharing with Draco- ever. "I don't play for other people."

"Why? If you play as well as you read then there's nothing for you to be shy about. Of course, that's assuming you are good."

Hermione scoffed. Playing cello was the one thing she never gave her parents push back on and there for had been playing for as long as she could hold one. Hermione had memorized whole suites before she went to Hogwarts. "Of course I play well. I don't know why you think I would play for you."

Draco was annoyed, and he felt his anger rise before shutting it down. "Because you're the one who insulted me and it's the price I'm naming for you to be forgiven."

Hermione frowned, thinking the Malfoys really were unfamiliar with thanking people and apologizing to try and arrange their forgiveness like a business contract. "I'm not playing for you."

He turned around, annoyed but kept his unreadable mask up so she wouldn't know, to return to the Slytherin common room, smirking. "Whatever, that's my price for accepting your pathetic apology."

Hermione watched him leave, arms crossed the whole time before she stared at the gold tapestry. Hermione was no longer in the mood to attempt to play again so she turned around herself, deciding not to go into the music room and return to her own dorms instead.

————————

"'Mione, don't make me go alone to Hogsmeade!" Ron was following Hermione to breakfast that Halloween day, the same day they would be going to Hogsmeade. Draco had ended up shuffling into the Great Hall too close to Ron for his liking, but Draco didn't mind that he was able to over hear what they were talking about.

"No, Ron." Hermione looked stressed by Ron's insistent pleading and was starting to become aggravated.

"But you owe me! Crookshanks done nothing but terrorize Scabbers-"

"_Owe you?!_" Hermione turned to look at her best friend with an incredulous expression on her face, causing Draco to look away so she wouldn't catch his smile. "I owe you nothing! I can't believe you approached me, claiming you wanted to apologize for your bratty behavior when you just wanted to guilt me into going to Hogsmeade with you!" Hermione stomped off towards the Gryffindor table, slinking between other students with her petite frame so she could sit by Neville, leaving Ron with the mass of students walking in.

Draco saw Dean Thomas walk up to Ron and throw an arm around his neck. "Did asking her to Hogsmeade not go as planned mate? How about you try _actually _apologizing?" Draco saw Ron shake Dean's arm off but could not hear what Ron replied with as they were finally free enough to go to their respective House tables. Draco made it a point to watch Ron's interactions with Hermione to confirm if his theory on Ron fancying her was correct.

Draco watched Ron, wondering what had happened between them until Harry arrived, sitting down next to Ron, completely dejected. Suddenly, Ron's statement about him going alone made complete sense, Harry didn't get permission to go to Hogsmeade, or he was not allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Draco sneered and looked over to Hermione who was angrily stabbing her food, with Neville trying to talk to her about calming down.

After breakfast, Draco and the rest of the students who were going to Hogsmeade started the walk to the check point. When he, Crabbe, and Goyle had gotten in line, he heard more squabbling from Hermione, but this time it wasn't with Ron - although he was present - and was standing on the other side of Harry.

"Harry, I'm not going to Hogsmeade-"

"You're using me as an excuse, Hermione. You should go and have fun, with or without Ron." Harry sounded completely downcast but was giving Hemione a stern look. "I'll be fine on my own but I think you need to get out of here more than anyone else." Hermione's anger wavered and her face softened, looking at Harry as if she wanted to plead with him, but she knew he was right.

Draco couldn't help himself though, at the opportunity to embarrass Harry in front of the mass of students. "Staying here, Potter?" Draco gave his signature sneer as all eyes started to fall on him. "Scared of passing the dementors?" Crabbe and Goyle chuckled as Draco turned, not waiting for Harry's reaction.

Harry looked at Hermione and spoke low, too depressed to retort Draco properly. "Don't give him another reason to bully you, either." Harry walked back to the castle alone, hands in his pocket.

Hermione shared a look with Ron who stepped closer to her, head low like it was when they met in Diagon Alley. "I'm sorry for being a git."

Hermione looked forward, at the back of Draco's head, but after a moment bumped his shoulder. "Thank you." Draco may not accept verbal apologies and take it out on her for almost a month but that did not mean she did. They shared a smile and she looked forward, trying not to look at any of the dementors, or think about what may happen if she got near them.

After Draco had gotten past Filch and the dementors, he motioned to Crabbe and Goyle to stand over to the side. He gestured back to Hermione and Ron. "Think she'll get past them? Or do you think she'll faint?" Crabbe snickered while Goyle smiled.

"I bet you two galleons she'll faint." Crabbe reached into his coin bag and pulled out two of the shiny coins.

"Two? Times that hard for your dad?" Draco raised an eyebrow, smiling and Goyle let out a low "Oooh."

"Shove off! Five then!" Crabbe got out three more galleons. "Goyle?"

Goyle made a face like he was thinking, "I say she'll faint." Goyle pulled out his own coin bag.

"Alright," Draco's face fell slightly, he expected one of them to say she would be fine so he could reap the winnings of betting on her fainting. "I say she'll be fine, then." Crabbe raised an eyebrow at Draco. "What? There's no point in betting if we're all going to say the same thing." Draco pulled out his own galleons as they turned to watch Hermione.

Hermione had pulled her robes around her even tighter. The air was cold already with late October ranging anywhere from five to ten degrees Celsius, but the dementors seemed to make the temperature drop even lower. Hermione forced herself not to look into the dementors hoods and hoped that Filch would be quick signing her in. Ron and her waited, patiently as she shivered. There were only three student's in front of her... Then two students, and her knuckles whitened as her fists tightened when she took a step closer... Then there was one student, and she could hear the dementors take a rattling breath as they watched her. Hermione found herself shaking violently as she stared at the ground waiting for either Filch or a dementor to move closer to her. Hermione found her self being unable to hear and...

Filch checked her name off and waved her through. Hermione immediately walked forward and did not stop, forgetting Ron was accompanying her the day. Draco's jaw dropped as he watched her walk by before he let out a howling laugh as Crabbe and Goyle looked pissed. Draco was honest enough to admit he did respect her partially, due to her general smarts, and drive, but Draco felt a bit more respect grow as she braved the dementors. Crabbe threw the galleons at Draco and Draco stopped laughing, his nostrils flaring. "You knew she would be fine!"

"The bloody hell I did! Who do you think you're throwing stuff at, Crabbe?" Draco squared his shoulders as Crabbe approached. Draco's nostrils were flaring- a habit he picked up from Lucius when he was angry- but immediately centered himself. While his father taught him to never take any disrespect, his mother had taught him acting in anger was the worst act to make. "You've been acting like an idiot since we got back this year. If you're looking for a good therapist for your anger issues, I can give you the information to Granger's." Crabbe hissed and opened his mouth to reply but Blaise Zabini, who was accompanied by Theodore and Daphe Greengrass, walked up to the three of them.

"While I know you two are having an intimate moment in front of Filch, who hates nothing more than the lovely students he cleans up after, might I suggest we move this to the Hogs Head? Atleast it would not be out of place there?" Blaise was smiling and even Draco could acknowledge that the dark Italian was handsome. Draco gave a curt nod and walked past Crabbe, bumping into his shoulder for good measure, leaving the galleons on the ground.

Draco would never pick anything up from the ground that someone threw at him, even if he used magic. He'd rather just collect the debt later.

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"There you go," said Ron. "We got as much as we could carry." Hermione and Ron dumped armfuls of all types of wizarding candy into Harry's lap, covering his lap completely. They had found him in the common room, pink faced from the cold, looking excited about everything they saw.

Harry picked up a packet of tiny Black Pepper Imps. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"

Ron started to go into an immediate rant with Hermione jumping in at certain points.

"I had never been anywhere in the wizarding community other than Daigon Alley and- oh! The post office, Harry! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!"

Harry laughed at that. "Of all the places Ron's talked about in Hogsmeade, you _would _bring up the post office." Hermione put her hands on her hips but he cut her off, putting his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. "I mean nothing by it, Hermione, I'm just happy to see you had a good time."

Hermione sobered up at that, "I wish you could have come with us, Harry."

"That would have been brilliant! Honeydukes was giving out samples of a new kind of fudge they created, we think we saw an ogre at the Three Broomsticks- they really get all sorts in there." Ron continued talking, telling Harry about everything he missed.

"What did you do?" Hermione tried not to look too anxious as she messed with her sweater. Hermione had several different reasons on why she did not want to go to Hogsmeade today but one of the main reasons- other than her general fear of going outside- was leaving Harry alone as he had the habit of getting into trouble. "Did you get any work done?"

"No," Harry said plainly, "Lupin made me a cup of tea and then Snape came in..." Harry told told about how Snape had came in with a goblet filled with a silvery, smoky potion that Lupin drank after Lupin promised Harry to teach him how to fend off dementors.

Hermione checked her watch and waited for an opportunity to interrupt him. "We'd better go down, you know, the Halloween feast'll be starting in five minutes." They headed out of the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape. Harry thought that Snape was trying to poison Lupin but Hermione could only see holes in the logic. "But if he- you know," Hermione dropped her voice, glancing around nervously. "If he was trying to- to poison Lupin- he wouldn't of had done it in front of Harry."

Harry made a face as he thought about it, finally settled on "Yeah, maybe," as a reply.

Ron chatted animatedly about all the food that was at the feast and even Hermione's spirits had been lifted higher as she sat down to eat not one serving, but two servings of the food. She looked around the table: Ron was spitting out food per usual, Harry was watching Professor Lupin along with Professor Snape and all of her house mates were in their own excited conversations, talking about the food or today's trip. Hermione couldn't help but feel whelmed in the best way, thinking that everything seemed as normal as it possibly could at the moment- and she enjoyed it. Hermione chatted with her house mates, gasped on queue with them when the Hogwarts ghosts flew around in formation, and laughed at Nearly Headless Nick's comedic reenactment of his botched beheading. It had been such a pleasant evening that it made her feel the most alive she had been since last school year.

Until they tried to head back to Gryffindor tower that is.

Harry, Ron and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindor's back to Gryffindor Tower, but when they got they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, it was jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" Hermione stood on her toes trying to see over the other students but she was too short. Harry did the same but all he was able to see was that the portrait was closed.

"Let me through, please," Came Percy's voice, as he tried to move through the crowd, keeping his chest puffed importantly. "What's the hold up? You can't all have forgotten the password- excuse me, _I'm _head boy-" Percy had finally made it to the portrait and he went silent by what he saw. Once he stopped talking, so did the rest of the crowd, waiting to hear what was the matter. When he turned around, a chill went through everyone as he spoke his next sentence with a sharp voice. "Somebody get Dumbledore. Quick."

Hermione, dreading what his words meant, ran as her adrenaline hit her. Her stomach turned and flipped the whole way down to the great hall. Forgetting her fears of heights, she jumped several steps on the way down the staircases she needed to descend._ If Percy says Dumbledore of all people is needed, it's serious. Something is terribly wrong._ Hermione made such good time that there was still students leaving the Great Hall and she nearly ran into Malfoy on the way into the Great Hall.

"Watch it, Granger! I still have an injured arm!"

She ignored his yelling and stopped short of the table the teachers ate at. Most of them had left but Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were still present. She was breathing hard. "Percy- Needs- You." Hermione waved towards the entrance hall.

McGonagall and Dumbledore were tensed while Snape simply raised an eyebrow. "Hermione," Dumbledore's usual twinkling light in his eyes were sharp. "Catch your breath then speak."

Hermione nodded and slumped over, placing her hand on her knees. She remembered her mother telling her that position was the fastest way to recover your breathing after a jog. When she felt she had enough air for a complete sentence a moment later, she straightened up. "Percy asked for you, Headmaster, the portrait is not opening up."

Dumbledore and McGonagall shared a look. "Please get Remus, Minerva." She automatically morphed into her animagus form, taking off to Lupin's office. Dumbledore ran to the Fat Lady portrait with Hermione close behind, while tailed Snape her. Hermione felt her legs and lungs burn as she ascended the stairs but refused to fall behind. When they got to the crowd, she allowed Snape to get in front of her and used Dumbledore's parting of the crowd as a way to get up close to the portrait. When she passed Harry and Ron, she felt them do the same behind her.

"Oh- my-" Hermione gripped Ron's arm and did not notice him blush like he had when they were in Diagon Alley. The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been nearly torn to ribbons and it littered the floor.

Dumbledore turned to look at Snape who had just been joined by McGonagall and Lupin. "We need to find her. Minvera, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in this castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" Peeves cackled, floating over them all upside down. He looked absolutely delighted and Hermione crossed her arms.

"You reckon he did it?" Ron whispered to her.

Hermione shook her head. "No, he wouldn't betray Headmaster Dumbledore like that."

"What do you mean, Peeves?" As if to prove her point, Peeves floated upright and his grin waved and dimmed as he did not dare to even taunt Dumbledore.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful." Peeves smiled wide again. "Poor thing." He added as if it was an after thought.

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Oh yes, Professorhead," said Peeves, resuming his upside down floating position. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see. Nasty temper he's got."

"Who, Peeves?" Dumbledore technically asked a question but his tone suggested anything but.

"Sirius Black."

Everyone but the professors, Hermione, Harry and Ron gasped and dissolved into hushed whispers. Hermione was gripping Harry's arm this time. Hermione's thoughts raced as she looked at her best friend. I left Harry here._ I left him here to go to Hogsmeade and Sirius Black almost broke into our common room._ Hermione barely heard Professor Dumbledore instruct the Gryffindors to return to the Great Hall as she shuffled behind her best friends. _Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts and could have killed Harry._

"'Mione."

_It would have been my fault if anything would have happened to him._

"Are you OK? You're breathing weird."

_I could have lost Harry, too._

Hermione didn't realize she had zoned out into her own downward spiral of thinking until Ron grabbed her shoulders making her jump. Hermione looked past Ron to meet Harry's gaze. She got out of Ron's grip and threw her arms at Harry, completely breaking down, not caring that the rest of the Hogwarts students in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin had entered the Great Hall as she made a scene. "I am so sorry, Harry!"

Harry awkwardly pat her back. "Why are you apologizing?" He pulled her away but kept his hands on her arms. His eyebrows were together with concern as he looked at her wet face.

"I should have stayed with you! What if something happened?" Hermione put her hands over her face trying to stifle her sobs.

"Hermione, it's not your fault. You're not my body guard."

"I know, but- Harry, I can't-" Hermione's voice broke off as she was choked out by sobs.

Harry pulled her into a hug, partially to muffle her sobs as people were starting to stare. Harry looked at Ron who was just as clueless on what to do next as Harry was. "Hermione, please stop crying. I'm alright, we're all alright, just calm down." Hermione nodded into his shoulder and pulled herself away after a few seconds, closing her eyes to practice palm breathing.

She stayed like that through Dumbledore's instruction on all houses sleeping in the Great Hall, and Percy's instruction on getting into their sleeping bags as soon as possible while the rest of Gryffindor house told the other houses what happened. When Hermione opened her eyes, Ron had grabbed an extra sleeping bag for her. Harry nodded his head to the side and they followed, choosing a corner somewhat close the entrance hall's doors, wanting to be away from everyone's stares.

Hermione took a deep breath as she unrolled her sleeping bag. "Do you think Black's still in the Castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

At the same time Ron replied "Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," Harry had said "Don't think about it." Harry shot Ron a glare as he climbed into the sleeping back.

Hermione nodded although she was unsure to which statement. Hermione felt she was bound to have a panic attack and thought about what Dr. Augsen suggested when she felt her panic try to take a hold of her. Hermione turned to Ron, whispering. "It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know." Hermione also had climbed into her back and propped herself on her elbows to talk. "The one night we weren't in the tower..."

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," said Ron, watching Harry who was ignoring Ron's commentary. Hermione didn't think Ron realized Harry was trying to hide his own anxious feelings but she didn't point it out. "Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."

Hermione shuddered. All around them, students were asking one another the same question: "_How did he get in?_"

"Maybe he knows how to apparate." A Ravenclaw said. "Just appear out of thin air, with a pop."

"Disguised himself, probably." A Slytherin replied. "Or flown in."

"Honestly, am I the _only _person who's ever bothered to read _Hogwarts: A History?_" Hermione meant to whisper it to Harry and Ron but her voice carried to the Ravenclaw laying by the Slytherins laying next to them, one of which was Draco Malfoy. They all shot glares at her and she raised her head trying not to seem embarrassed, thankful for the candles low lighting to hide the color in her cheeks.

"You probably are-" Ron started, eyes narrowed at the group that was glaring at Hermione.

"Problem, Granger?" Malfoy's silver eyes caught her chocolate ones. Hermione wondered again how him and his parents could be so unreadable even when they had their undivided attention on her.

"The castle's protected by more than _walls_, you know," The Slytherin's and the Ravenclaw's faces softened with curiosity but stayed menacing. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those dementors, they're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They would have seen him fly in, too. Filch knows all the secret passages so the dementors would have them all covered-" Hermione was rambling at this point but she was cut off by Percy.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" Harry and Ron immediately rolled over and pretended to be asleep.

"Bloody swot." Hermione glanced at the Slytherins and the Ravenclaw who were getting into comfortable sleeping positions. Draco had looked over to the Ravenclaw who had spoke and glared at him. The Ravenclaw acted like he didn't say anything but kept his back to the Slytherins when he attempted to sleep. Before getting into a comfortable position herself, she glanced at Draco who was staring at her, a thoughtful expression on his face before he turned away, laying on his side. Once Hermione was sure that no one was paying attention, she cast a _silencio _on herself. The sleepless draught was by her bedside in the commons and the last thing she needed if she was able to fall asleep was waking up all of Hogwarts screaming.

Hermione stayed looking up at the Great Hall's ceiling, a ceiling that was enchanted to reflect the night's sky. It was a clear night and Hermione found herself staring up at it for hours, wondering which constellation was which as she had only ever been able to point out Orion and the Big Dipper. When she rolled over, around three AM, she saw Ron and Harry both awake. She opened her mouth to say something, forgetting she cast a _silencio _when they heard Dumbledore walked back into the Great Hall and approached Snape who was standing close enough to their sleeping bags that they could overhear some of what was being said. Hermione lifted her hair so she could hear what was being said better as she was unable to move so she could see them without drawing attention to herself.

"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before- ah- the start of term?" Said Snape. Hermione tilted her head slightly as it sounded like he was whispering.

"I do, Severus," Dumbledore said with a tone that sounded as if he was giving a warning to Snape.

"It seems- almost impossible- that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed-"

"I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it." Dumbledore's tone made it clear the subject was closed and continued speaking to ensure Snape would not reply. "I must go down to the dementors. I said I would inform them when our search was complete."

"Didn't they want to help, sir?" said Percy.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore's voice was flat and cold. "But I'm afraid no dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am headmaster."

Hermione didn't move until she heard Dumbledore exist the Great Hall. She looked over to Harry and Ron who were mouthing to each other. Hermione rolled on to her back again and stared up at the starry sky. At that moment she felt that the enchanted ceiling was a reflection of her head; the bright dots were her thoughts and the black sky were the lack of connection between them. Hermione pulled out her wand and put it in the sleeve of her shirt, keeping it against her skin. Hermione stared up at the sky, trying to piece together the partial conversation she just heard. She was wired to the point that she did not think sleep would come to her, so she hardly noticed herself starring at the _Gamma Draconis_ star as she drifted off to sleep.

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When Hermione had woken up in the Great Hall that Sunday morning, she took up Narcissa's offer of getting her what she needed and asked for a special holster she could keep her wand in that would be more accessible than the pocket of her robs or her school bag. Hermione was determined to protect her best friend to the best of her ability and wanted to make sure she could draw her wand in a second, need be. The next day, Narcissa had several gauntlet-like cloth sleeves delivered, each with a special pocket to put her wand in so it was attached to her arm at all times. Hermione then followed Harry around to each class- even the ones she did not share with him, which tested her skill with the time turner.

Harry had been annoyed by everyone, especially with Hermione, as several people made a point after the almost attack to follow him around the castle. Teachers would give vague excuses as to why they were escorting them and Percy would always follow him at a distance- presumably under his mother's orders. On Thursday, after Harry's last quidditch practice - which was the only place Hermione did not escort him due to the Weasley twins being the ones to walk with him as they were also on the team (and after they both reassured Hermione Madam Hooch would be more than enough protection as she was asked by McGonagall to supervise Gryffindor practices)- he came into the common room, venting about how Draco had used his arm as an excuse for Gryffindor to play against Hufflepuff the next day when they had been practicing for over a month to play against Slytherin.

"But Hufflepuff plays completely different than Slytherin!" Ron exclaimed, spitting out a part of the Fizzing Whizzbee he was chewing on. Crookshanks who was on Hermione's lap at the time, followed the candy with rapt attention hoping it was Scabbers. She hoped Ron did not notice as they had not fought since Halloween morning but he did. "Do you not feed him, Hermione?"

She gave him a look that was a mix of disgust and surprise. "Don't be an idiot, Ron. Don't ever accuse me of neglecting my animals."

His anger wavered as he realized what he said but he decided to turn back to Harry instead of replying. "They waited to say something on purpose, Harry. They knew it would mess us up strategically." Hermione, done with the conversation, slammed her Ancient Runes textbook closed and walked up to the girls dorm, ignoring Ron's calls for her to come back.

The next day was Friday and Oliver Wood held Harry and Hermione both up on their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, trying to give last minute pointers for tomorrow's game like he had down twice already that day. By the time either of them decided to look at the time, they were ten minutes late to Lupin's class. They both set out in a run, and they had skidded to a halt once they reached the door of the classroom. "You apologize, you're better at that." Harry said.

Hermione nodded once as Harry pulled open the door letting her walk in first. "Sorry we're late, Professor Lu..." Hermione's voice trailed off as she processed that the raggedy robed professor was not in the classroom but an oily haired one was.

Snape gave her and Harry a look. Hermione heard a wolf whistle behind her and she shot a glare in the direction of it, to see none other than Draco Malfoy who winked at her, grinning.

"The lesson began ten minutes ago. Since there are two of you, I think I'll take twenty points from Gryffindor. Sit down." Hermione grit her teeth as the rest of her house let out a sigh but immediately sat down next to Ron.

"What held you guys up?" Ron half hissed at her. She looked at him, trying to figure out what his facial expression was. It wasn't anger or surprise but something close.

Before she could reply, Harry asked professor Snape a question, still standing. "Where's Professor Lupin?"

"He says he is feeling too ill to teach today," Snape looked back up from the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook with a wry smile. "I believe I told you to sit down?"

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked, showing no signs of intention of moving.

Harry didn't move and Hermione's heart rate quickened. Godric, no, please do not confront him about poisoning Lupin!

Snape's black eyes glittered with the same malice he showed Trevor when he croaked in the double potions class they had when they were attempting to make a shrinking potion. "Nothing life-threatening," for a moment he looked like he was disappointed it wasn't life-threatening. "Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you again, it will be fifty." All of Gryffindor's house mates turned to look at Harry, some with a menacing look- like Hermione- others with a pleading look- like Ron. Harry finally meandered to his seat beside Hermione and sat down. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far-"

Hermione raised a hand, hoping to gain some points back after Harry and her loosing so many. "Sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas, and Grindy-Lows. "We're just about to start-"

"Be quiet," Snape said coldly. "I did not ask for that information, I was merely commenting on Lupin's lack of organization. Today we shall discuss-" Hermione frowned watching Snape flip all the way to the back of the book, knowing he was skipping over _loads _of material they had not covered. "Werewolves."

Hermione muttered to herself, keeping her voice at a level she thought only Ron and Harry would be able to hear as she was unable to restrain herself from letting out some of her frustration. "We're not due to start werewolves yet, we're due to start Hinky-Pucks-" She accidentally slammed her book open looking for the chapter on werewolves.

"Miss Granger." Snape's voice was deadly and she forced herself to look up. He was suddenly standing at the end of the desk, near Harry. "Do you have a problem with the lesson I have picked out today?"

"No, sir." She looked into his eyes and held his gaze.

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to learn about Hinky-Pucks instead?" A corner of his mouth twitched upwards as the Slytherins laughed at how condescending Snape sounded when he said Hinky-Pucks. It was like he was talking to a child.

Hermione swallowed and didn't answer for a moment as the classroom was silent. Finally, deciding he was not going to speak until she answered, she let her hand ball into a fist. "It's just that we're not due to start were-"

"And yet, I am the one teaching the lesson. Not. You. I am telling you all to turn to page 394." He glanced around again, as the students slowly turned to the back of the book. "All of you! _Now!_" Hermione breathed a deep sigh after her and the rest of the class got to the right page. After the turning of pages were no longer heard, Snape asked another question. "Which of you can distinguish between the werewolf and a true wolf?"

Everyone sat motionless as they stared at Snape. Draco was about to raise his hand to answer when he saw Hermione raising hers again. Draco could count on one hand how many times she had participated in class his year without a teacher asking her to, so he decided to back off, watching with interest instead to see how this would go with his Godfather's current mood.

"Anyone?" Snape said, ignoring Hermione completely. "Are you telling me Lupin hasn't even taught you you the basic distinction between-"

"We told you," Parvati Patil said suddenly, "We haven't got as far as werewolves, yet. We-"

"_Silence!_" Snarled Snape. Draco had to commend the Gryffindors for trying to stick together. He found it stupid, as he was raised to believe it was every man for himself but it was almost respectable. "Lupin is hardly overtaxing you- I would expect first years to handle Hinky-Pucks-"

"He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had!" Dean said boldy as the Gryffindors nodded in agreement.

Snape's eyes were dangerous and the Slytherins buzzed seeing their head of house so angry. "And yet, none of you can tell me how to spot a werewolf. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are..."

"Please, sir." Hermione spoke again, her voice hard with determination. Draco thought she was trying to make a point but was unsure what it was. "The wolf differs from the true wolf in several ways. The snout of the werewolf-"

"I did not call on you to speak, Miss Granger. Five points for speaking out of turn and another five points for being an insufferable know-it-all."

Hermione finally put her hand down defeated. She had tears in her eyes but they were strictly from anger and she could faintly feel her wand throb against her skin in time with her heart beat. Hermione closed her eyes to count down from twenty and as she felt the blood continue to rush to her face. Before she got to fifteen though, Ron stood and the sound of his chair scraping against the floor made her jump.

"You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?" Ron spoke loudly to the point it bordered yelling and Draco bit his fist to stop from howling with laughter at the look his godfather gave Ron.

Everyone in the classroom knew immediately he went too far. Snape advanced on Ron slowly and everyone held their breath. "Detention, Weasley," Snape said silkily, his face was very close to Ron's. "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."

No one made a sound after that for the rest of the lesson and when the bell rang, Snape held them back to tell them they needed to turn in two rolls of parchment on how to recognize and kill werewolves, and it was to be turned in on Monday morning.

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The quidditch match that Saturday was a cold and wet one- the weather being the worst it had been since term started. Several of the students had umbrellas in the stands and they all had to be placed under a strengthening charm so the wind would not blow them inside out. Everyone was soaking wet and Hermione had volunteered to help a few of the professors cast a drying charm on to the younger students before sitting down next to Ron who was seething in his seat, listening to Malfoy talk.

"Ah, if only my arm was feeling a bit better!" Malfoy sighed and Hermione did not have to look at him to visualize Pansy all over him, trying to be comforting when she was really just clingy. She imagined the rest of the Slytherins looking smug as well knowing they had avoided playing in terrible weather conditions.

"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's bloody arm." Ron grit out through his teeth as he pulled his winter robes tighter. "He waited until the last minute to say anything too, to mess with our chances of winning."

"I know, but we can't prove it." Hermione had a jar full of flames between them, something she did every time quidditch season started so they would at least have some warmth. "I wish they would cancel the game, though."

"Quidditch games don't get canceled." Ron said dismissively.

"I know, I read _Quidditch Through the Ages _first year.. It's just not right that wizards love the sport so much, nothing can get in the way of it, even if lives are at risk. I know the brooms, the players and the balls are enchanted to prevent such accidents and..."

"And he'll be fine. Look-" Ron pointed to the stands below them where the Gryffindor team was walking on to the muddy field. Hermione could barely see them unless the thunder was flashing, illuminating their scarlet uniforms. "They're finally coming out to the field."

Hermione bit her lip and said nothing more. She pulled her wand out for comfort and jiggled her leg as she watched the players start to fly. Gryffindor was not doing too bad against Hufflepuff but she could tell that Harry was having a rough time seeing. He had bumped into two players and was not strategically flying around like he usually did. Even from where she was, she could tell he was being pushed around by the wind. Time passed and the students watched. Twice they watched Harry get hit by a bludger but thankfully, he never fell off his broom. Hermione could tell he was nearly flying blind as his glasses were fogging up. Hermione knew a spell that would help, but there would be no way she could cast it as she was not confident in hitting a moving target or causing Gryffindor to loose the game due to an interference.

Hermione had lost track of time, but when the next big roll of thunder sounded, Madam Hooch blew her whistle signaling a time out was called. Hermione rushed to the bottom of the stairs, to the Gryffindor locker room where the team had just gathered.

"I've got no chance with these on!" Harry said exasperatedly, waving his glasses.

Hermione beamed at him as she appeared by his shoulder. "I've had an idea, Harry! Give me your glasses, quick!"

He handed them to her, and the team watched her closely, or at least Harry tried as he was squinting at her, unable to see. "Impervius!" Harry put them on and was already able to see better due to the water being on them disappearing already. "There! They'll repel water!"

Oliver Wood, the team captain, looked as if he would kiss her. "Brilliant!" Hermione gave a hesitant smile before turning around and returning up the stand stairs to Ron.

"Is everything all right?" Ron held the jar of flames out to her so she could warm up after going into the cold and rain without them.

"I think so." Hermione grabbed the jar and sat with it close to her chest, resisting the urge to shiver. "I cast a charm on his glasses so he could see."

Ron nodded and returned his attention to the game as the players were back in the air. Hermione smiled a moment later when Harry dodged an incoming bludger, proving her charm had worked. Watching him closely, she could see he was flying with confidence again, even with the storm worsening. Gryffindor was in the lead, and all Harry had to do was catch the snitch. Hermione cheered with the rest of her house when they scored three more goals, putting them up by eighty points.

There was a clap of lightning followed immediately by forked thunder. Suddenly, Cedric Diggory, the seeker and team captain for Hufflepuff, shot past Harry as he had spotted the snitch. Hermione tried to get Harry's attention, even though she knew it was useless, as she watched him nearly slip off his broom, clearly distracted by something else he saw. Hermione's stomach flipped as she quieted, watching her best friend recover. Wood, flew up to Harry, pointing to Cedric as he chased after the snitch. Harry followed shortly after which was when everything took a turn for the worst.

Everyone had their attention averted to the seekers that no one noticed the dementors that had flooded the grounds of the stadium, chasing after Harry. When they were finally noticed, Cedric Diggory caught the snitch, but Harry had slid off his broom due to passing out.

Just like when Hermione's father had dashed forward to tackle the gun-man, time appeared to stop and her brain kick started. She knew that Harry's Nimbus 2000 was enchanted so it would slow his fall. She could not recall the exact fraction it would slow his decent to, but she used the borrowed time to address the dementors. Hermione grabbed the jar of flames and cast a hasty _Locomotor Jar, _zooming it directly into the heart of the dementors closest to Harry within seconds. Once it was close enough, she focused her intent, gathered all the magic she could muster and yelled her spell as if it was a command. "_Accendere Omnes Ignis!_” The jar disappeared as the blue flames erupted and engulfed twenty of the closest dementors. The affected dementors screeched then flew off to join the others below them.

The rest of the dementors paused, now hesitant to go after a falling Harry, until Dumbledore cast what looked to be the same spell Lupin had used on the train to Hogwarts. Hermione aimed her wand at Harry to attempt to levitate him but was distracted by the silver bird that had erupted from Dumbledore's wand, causing her to miss, while the bird chased off the dementors completely. Dumbledore cast a spell to cushion Harry's fall and she immediately ran down the stairs, skipping steps as she had last weekend to be the first one on the field next to Harry and Dumbledore.

Hermione got to the field right when Harry was being moved from the ground to the stretcher Dumbledore had conjured for him. "Is he okay?!" Hermione was vibrating from all of the emotions her brain was not allowing her to process at once as she looked at her unconscious best friend, her mind already coming up with worse case scenarios.

"Miss Granger, did you conjure those flames?" Dumbledore spoke as he grabbed Harry's wrist, feeling for a pulse.

"Y-yes." Hermione went to Harry's other side and turned his face towards her, looking for any signs of life. She felt the vice grip on her lungs ease a bit when she saw him breathing.

"You helped save his life, Hermione." Hermione looked up at the Headmaster as a crowd started to gather behind him. "He needs to go to the infirmary though. I believe I can trust you to take him."

Hermione nodded once and climbed on top of the stretcher, over Harry's legs and tapped her wand to the edge of the large stretcher. "_Locomotor Stretcher._" Hermione guided the stretcher away from the crowd, zooming by the familiar faces of her classmates. Hermione's heart was still racing but she could only think of one thing: He's alive.

When they got to the infirmary and Madam Hooch settled him into a cot was when she cried, her emotions catching up with her and overwhelming her. It made Hermione feel weak to be able to cry so easily so she held on to what Dumbledore said to keep her from completely breaking down. _I saved him. I did what I couldn't do before..._

Roughly an hour later, Ron and the rest of the quidditch team had entered. Ron had a bag with the remnants of the Nimbus 2000 in it, or at least what he could get from the Womping Willow, since it had destroyed the broom. The team was covered head to toe in mud and Ron was completely soaked. Hermione started to cast a drying charm on him as she listened to the rest of the team talk.

"Lucky the ground was soft." Fred said.

"I thought he was dead for sure." George replied.

Hermione closed her eyes for a second and stopped before allowing herself to continue drying Ron off.

"But he didn't even break his glasses." Angelina Johnson, a chaser, said.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen." Ron offered. Hermione shuddered, she couldn't help but think if things were different, she would have agreed. "Dumbledore was furious. And 'Mione, that thing you did with the flames-"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry twitch before his eyes snapped open. "Ron, get Madam Pomfrey." Hermione automatically joined his side as he sat up straight, making the others gasp. Ron listened to Hermione and ran to the infirmary's office.

Harry was upset of course by not just his broom being broken, but by the fact that he never caught the snitch. Hermione tried not to be annoyed by his lack of priorities when he had nearly died as she and Ron visited him every day over the weekend, doing their homework together as Harry ate more than enough chocolate to recover.

On Sunday, Harry was discharged from the infirmary. Hermione and Ron helped Harry carry all of his get-well-soon gifts back to the common room, as several of his classmates had dropped off gifts ranging from candy to plants. By the time Harry and Ron came back down to the common room after taking the gifts to the boys dorm, Hermione already had their Defense Against the Dark Arts books propped open so they could start their werewolf essay. Crookshanks sat by her side and she ignored Ron's glare at the half-kneazle before he started reading the chapter.

While Ron and Harry were just starting their essays after reading the chapter once, Hermione was on her third reading of the chapter, essay already finished. Hermione's eyes were wide as she took everything in from her book. She was unsure if she was crazy, or Snape's hateful behavior towards Lupin suddenly made sense. Purebloods hated anything that was not just like them so it made sense for him to hate a werewolf. Hermione looked up at her best friend's wondering if she should say anything but once she tuned into their conversation, she realized that it was something she would need to tread carefully if she did. Harry and Ron were both fans of Lupin and she had no proof of him being a werewolf after all, even with Harry's perfect description of a _Wolfsbane _potion or that Lupin's boggart was a moon instead of a crystal ball like Ron had thought.

"I hope Lupin teaches me defenses for the dementors soon." Harry ran a hand through his hair and removed his glasses. "Malfoy is going to be an absolute arse tomorrow. He was in such a good mood in the hallway, he took off his bandages saying his arm has finally healed."

Ron nodded as he started to doodle at the edge of his parchment, unmotivated to do two scrolls on the chapter Snape assigned. They were quite for a moment and Hermione decided at that moment to blurt out an indirect question to test the waters.

"Do you think Dumbledore would hire a werewolf as a teacher?" Hermione didn't look up from her book as she attempted to keep an air of non-nonchalance.

Ron snorted. "Did you not read the chapter, 'Mione? They're barbaric and unpredictable around the full moon."

"I don't think Dumbledore would put his students in danger." Harry added. Hermione nodded but pursed her lips. She often felt the texts they were taught out of were biased and exaggerated but even someone who struggled socially herself knew that expressing these opinions would not work in her favor.

_If Dumbledore had Snape brewing _Wolfsbane, _would he risk it then? _She let the conversation drop and gave the excuse of her being tired to return upstairs and go to bed. Really, Hermione was going to go through her other textbooks and read all that she could on werewolves. She took her dream-less draught and fell asleep, head in a book with Crookshanks by her side.

—————————

_Hermione,_

_I have exciting news to share with both you and Draco! Lucius and I are opening an orphanage._

_I hoped to tell you this in person but I have not received a direct reply on whether you two will be coming back for Christmas. I could not wait to tell you and was hoping you could assist me in picking out a name for the orphanage? Everything is in the works still, but we do plan on having a in the summer gala to possibly gain investors._

_Hermione, please reply with your answer on if you will be coming to the manor and with whom. I would like to know how much food we would need to cook before winter holiday has started._

_-Narcissa Midase Malfoy._

Hermione folded the parchment and tapped it against the table of the great hall. Hermione had been on the fence on whether she wanted to leave Hogwarts or not and Narcissa had asked nearly every other letter all of November if she and Draco would come. Hermione did not want to leave Harry and Ron, who said they were both staying but the decorations and talk of the holiday was a constant reminder of her parents. Narcissa gave Hermione an open invitation to invite anyone she wanted to back to the manor, but Hermione knew neither boy would agree to spend holiday with her at Malfoy Manor. Molly would not even allow Ron to entertain the idea if he would consider it.

Hermione looked around the Great Hall and felt her mood worsen as she stared at the tinsel and fairy lights. Christmas was a major holiday in her house hold and the constant reminders caused her breakdowns to worsen again like it was the week of her birthday. Hermione tried to escape the decorations in her free time, but they were everywhere- Lavender had even decorated their dorm for Christmas, claiming it helped her come up with better clothing designs that she was often found sketching.

Hermione put her head on the table, thinking that she needed to give Narcissa an answer, and quick, as McGonagall was due to collect names of the students who were staying for the holiday this Friday, which was in two days. Hermione wondered if Draco was wanting to return to the Manor and her brown eyes flicked over to the Slytherin table to see him staring at her. Hermione pursed her lips and lifted her head. She pointed at the parchment, then at the door, motioning for him to meet her outside the Great Hall.

Hermione had failed to be discreet, and Ron stood when she went to leave. "I'm going with you."

"There's no reason for you to." Hermione burnt the letter, a habit she started to copy with her letters from Narcissa, then vanished the ashes. She slipped her wand into her sleeve then crossed her arms. They were back to fighting about Crookshanks and Scabbers again and she was in no mood to talk to him.

"Malfoy's a reason." Ron shot Draco a dirty look and Theo stood up, a warning that Draco was not unprotected.

"Only if you make him a reason. I need to talk to him about stuff happening at ho-" Hermione cleared her throat. "The manor. Please don't make this bigger than what it is."

Ron gave her a look but sat down. "If you're not back soon, I'm going out there."

Hermione sighed. "Sure, Ron." She grabbed her back pack and exited the Great Hall, glancing over to the Slytherin table, she saw Draco start to follow, leaving a glaring Theo at the table.

She walked around the corner of a pillar and waited for him but he continued walking past her. "Where are you-?"

"I'm not talking to you civilly in public." He walked over to the next pillar and pulled away the red tapestry, revealing two Hufflepuffs having a snog. Hermione walked over but jumped back when they ran out of the hidden alcove.

"At breakfast time? Really?" Hermione asked rhetorically- not in spite but more out of shock. The Hufflepuffs, one being Hannah Abbott, blushed as she glanced back at Draco and Hermione.

Draco motioned to the alcove for Hermione to step in first and followed close after, pulling the tapestry closed behind him. She hoped that her question would help her decide on what to do for the holiday easier. "What did you want to do for holiday?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You're taking my thoughts into account on staying here or not?"

"Well, she said that if one of us doesn't agree then we're to stay here." Hermione fidgeted. "Does your family decorate?"

Draco made a face. "Not over the top like they do here. The gaudiness is suffocating."

Hermione found herself in agreement with Malfoy, something she did not care to admit. "If that's the case, then I'd rather go to the manor."

she was looking away so she didn't see both of Draco's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Because of decorations?"

Hermione looked up at him again and made a sniffling sound. "It's not about the decorations."

"Oh." Draco understood but did not know what to say next to make her feel better so he raised his own concern about returning to the manor. "I want to bring two of my friends to the manor."

"So long as one of them isn't Pansy, I don't care." Hermione put a hand on the tapestry to move it out of the way but he pulled it back. "If I'm bringing someone home, you do to or else mother won't allow me to. We're to receive the same treatment, remember?"

"Let go of me, Malfoy." He let go of her and crossed his arms. "It better not be Crabbe or Goyle, either." She gave him a dirty look as she fixed her sleeve. If he was going to continue to be a prat, she was going to limit his options on who he was inviting.

Draco rolled his eyes as he looked down on her. "I would never bring over Pansy and mother is not a fan of Crabbe's family or Goyle's. I was planning on asking Theo and Blaise." Draco did not find it appropriate to mention he also had a falling out with Crabbe and Goyle as it was not her business. "So go back into the Great Hall and ask your only two friends to join us on holiday."

Hermione was hurt by his comment on her lack of friends and raised her voice as the blood rose to her face. "Do you really think Harry and -" Just then, the tapestry was ripped open to reveal a red faced red head who yanked Hermione from the alcove. "RON!" Hermione stumbled but covered it up as an attempt to pull her arm out of his grasp.

Theo and Blaise were behind Ron, cornering him in case he attacked Draco, who now stood in front of the tapestry, sneer on his face. "Well if it isn't the weasel. Came to fetch The-Chosen-One's girlfriend for him? Was he too busy doing something else to be bothered?" Draco had waited to use Ron's crush against him and was filled with glee with glee watching Ron's face changed to the perfect shade of puce.

"What were you doing in there?" Ron turned to Hermione, not knowing what to say in reply to Draco's taunt. "I heard you starting to yell."

Draco opened his mouth to say something completely cheeky but Hermione spoke first. "What did I say about following me out here? I told you I needed to talk to him about the manor!"

Ron stared at her, partially in disbelief that she was mad at him. "I know, but I got worried-"

"I'm not Ginny, Ron!" Hermione was angry and did not feel the instant regret for what she said, but she felt it for how she said it. In the back of Hermione's mind, she knew that her anger was fueled by her stress and depression which caused her to take it out on him. Hermione was too angry to explain her feelings and was too stubborn to apologize then. Hermione turned to Blaise who looked shocked at the scene in front of him. "I'll invite you to the bloody manor and Draco can invite Theo." Finally she turned back around to look at Draco whose face mirrored Blaise's. Hermione was upset to the point that she did not even care she finally saw him break his usually unreadable or menacing mask. "Happy?"

Hermione walked off towards her Arithmancy class, too angry to care that she was over thirty minutes early. Hermione let herself cry a few tears but refused to allow herself to become a blubbering mess first thing in the morning. She hated herself more and more with every step she took, replying the scene in her head.

Hermione regretted what she said to Ron, mostly because she knew that she was going to experience the worst Christmas of her life and she took out on one of the few people who cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday of you celebrate!


	13. Year Three: Part IV (Christmas, part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah and happy Kwanzaa. So this chapter has been split into two parts even though the last bit happens on the same night. I figured it would be better for readers to pace themselves in case they have trouble getting through the 17k+ words in one go.
> 
> SERIOUS TW: Suicide attempt, self hate, depression.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Ugh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect," Hermione and Ron were currently in Honey Dukes, looking at their "Unusual Tastes" section. Hermione had pulled Ron aside after the first two weeks of December, where they had hardly talked and apologize. There was still some tension between the two and Harry had used that against her when she threw a fit saying she was not leaving him again.

"How about these?" said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermione's nose.

"Definetly not," said Harry from behind them, making Ron nearly drop the jar.

Hermione immediately rounded on him, using her scolding tone. One of Harry's arguments that convinced her to go back to Hogsmeade was the extra caution Hogwarts used in protecting any intruders from breaking in a second time. "What are you doing here? Harry James Potter you best to get back to that Castle or so help me-"

"WOW!" Ron said loudly, clearly happy to see his other best friend in Hogsmeade. "You've learned how to apparate." Ron sounded impressed and Hermione thought she could hear the blood boiling in her face.

"'Course I haven't." Harry pulled out a dingy parchment and pointed his wand at it. "_I solemnly swear I am up to no good_." Hermione grabbed the map from him, looking it over, as she listened to him explain that Fred and George stole it from Filch's office their first year. He explained that there were seven passage ways leaving Hogwarts but one was blocked and Filch only knew about three. Hermione was impressed by the map but was trying very hard not to let it show as she was still livid with Harry.

"How come Fred and George never gave it to _me_!" Said Ron, who was outraged. "I'm their brother!"

"Harry, if you're found with this..." Hermione looked at her dark haired friend with narrowed eyes and a warning look.

"I won't be, and even if I was," he pointed his wand at the map. "_Mischief Managed_." Hermione watched the ink disappear and it became a dingy parchment again. "So, you're not going to tell me to turn it in or anything?" Harry had an expression that was half hopeful, half apprehensive. Hermione felt guilt settle in her stomach, she knew Ron and her's constant bickering was taking a toll on her friend and she felt bad he had been caught in the middle.

Hermione put her shoulders back and looked Harry in the eyes. "While I agree with Mr. Weasley on saying '_Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain_', I think it would be a great tool in keeping you away from Sirius Black. Plus if you hand it in, you'll have to say where you got it from and I'd rather deal with the twins myself for giving that to you." Harry and Ron grinned at her but she held up a finger. "Promise me you'll keep this on you at all times while I'm gone, Harry."

Harry grinned. He knew he could count on her, even if she preferred to be a goody-two-shoes. "I promise, 'Mione."

"Good. Now get back to the castle." Hermione crossed her arms again as she starred him down. Harry's grin faltered as Ron chose to respond, starting another disagreement between him and Hermone.

"Are you mad?" Ron was starting to go pink himself. "It's Christmas and Harry deserves it!"

"And what about Sirius Black?" Hermione hissed, trying to keep her voice low in the packed candy store. "Bad enough, he may have used one of those passages to get into Hogwarts but if you're out here- _away from all the protections you had reminded me of earlier, Harry_\- it would make it that much more easier for him."

"He can't be getting in through a passage," said Harry quickly." Filch knows about four of them so dementors will be posted at the Hogsmeade entrances. There's one that's caved in then another is covered by the Whomping Willow. That leaves the one I just came through in the Honeydukes cellar- which is hardly noticeable- so unless he knew it was there..." Harry trailed off realizing that Black knowing where the cellar entrance was not probable but not impossible. Something that Hermione already realized.

"And if he does, Harry?"

Ron cleared his throat loudly and pointed to a notice inside of the sweets shop.

-By order of the Ministry of Magic-

_Customers are reminded that until further notice, dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall._

_Merry Christmas!_

"See?" said Ron quietly. "I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with dementors swarming the streets at night. Anyway, Hermione, the shop owners would hear a break-in, wouldn't they? They live over the shop!"

Hermione huffed, running out of problems to point out. Look, Harry still shouldn't be coming to Hogsmeade! If anyone finds out, he'll be in so much trouble! And it's not nightfall yet- what If Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"

Ron and Harry exchanged a grin knowing her arguments were starting to become weak. "He'd have a job spotting Harry in this," Ron nodded to the mullioned windows where thick snow was swirling outside, making visibility difficult. "Can hardly see five feet ahead, can you?"

Hermione bit her lip, looking more than worried.

Harry nudged her with his elbow, grinning. "Are you going to report me?"

"Of course not but honestly, Harry-"

Ron put a shoulder around Harry and started pointing out all of the candies to Harry, naming them, leaving Hermione to walk behind them. She walked around the shop, keeping an eye out for anyone who looked like they had too much interest on Harry being at Honeydukes and not Hogwarts.

After Ron gave a tour of Honey Dukes, they exited the shop and Hermione wrapped her purple scarf around Harry as Harry had ran out of Hogwarts the moment Fred and George gave him the map instead of dressing appropriately for the weather. "Hermione I look like a girl! If anyone sees me in this-"

"No one can see five feet ahead of them, can they?" She shot Harry a grin to let him know she was joking and they all laughed.

After showing Harry around Hogsmeade, Ron suggested they go to the Three Broomsticks so they can have Butterbeer.

"Hermione didn't get any last time, either so you can both try it together."

"Why didn't you get any, 'Mione?" Harry looked over at her and she looked away. Ron had immediately brought her to the Three Boomsticks when she passed the dementors so she had a place to sit and calm down as she had started to have a small panic attack.

"My stomach wasn't up to it." Hermione took her scarf back as they entered the tiny inn that was bustling with Hogwarts students from all houses. A curvy woman with a very pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks at the bar.

"That's Madam Rosmerta," said Ron, turning slightly pink. "I'll get the drinks, shall I?"

Hermione guided Harry to the back of the room where there was a small vacant table between the window and a very full Christmas tree. Ron was back five minutes later, carrying three foaming tankards of hot butterbeer. Harry and Hermione raised their tankards, clinking them together, then did the same to Ron.

Ron looked puzzled as they bumped their tankards against his. "What was that for?"

"It must be a muggle thing," Harry looked at Hermione then turned to Ron. "Usually it's done at the end of someone giving a small speech before everyone starts drinking but..." Harry looked confused thinking about it. "I'm not actually sure why it's done." Both boys looked at Hermione, waiting for an explanation.

"It was originally done because in medieval times it was believed to ward off evil and rid the drink of any poisons." The boys nodded as they sipped on the butterbeer. Hermione wanted to drink hers but had spent time blowing on it to avoid burning herself.

"It's not _that _hot, 'Mione." Ron already had foam all around his mouth. When he opened his mouth to say something else, a cool breeze whirled around them, causing Hermione to look at the front door of the inn. Her eyes widened and Harry looked behind him, choking on his butterbeer.

Ron and Hermione pulled Harry under the table as they watched Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, and Hagrid enter the inn, already in a deep conversation with the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Hermione withdrew her wand and cast a "_Mobiliarbus_," so the tree was in front of them. Hermione did not stow her wand away, but rather, gripped it tighter. Her knuckles turned white and she could practically feel her magic crackling around her.

Part of her visual was cut off due to the tree and with a quick flick of her wand, she had severed several stray branches so she could see the adults perfectly. Ron gave her a questioning look as she had not uttered a sound, let alone say a full spell to cut off the branches, but she didn't acknowledge him, too focused on the owner of the lime green bowler hat. All three Gryffindor's watched as the adults ordered their drinks then continued their conversation from earlier;

Madam Rosmerta had a slight edge in her voice as she spoke to the Minister. "You know that the dementors have searched my pub twice? Scared all of my customers away. It's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta, m'dear, I don't like them any more than you do," Fudge said as his eyes raked over her colorful dress and sparky turquoise heels. "It's a necessary precaution." It was a reply that sounded completely apathetic, as if he said it too many times already. He turned back to the professors as Madam Rosmerta walked away. "I've just met with some of them, they're in a fury against Dumbledore- he won't let them inside the castle grounds."

"I should think not." McGonagall said sharply. "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors flying around?"

"Hear, Hear!" Professor Flitwick chimed.

Hermione watched drinks float from the bar, to the table so their respective owners were able to drink.

"All the same," demurred Fudge, who took a sip of his Red Currant Rum. "They are here to protect you all from something much worse... We all know what Black's capable of..." The professors sighed as they remembered his crimes.

"Some say that murdering thirteen people with one spell was the worst thing he had done, but I disagree." McGonagall sipped her Gillywater before continuing. "They were inseparable, and he just betrayed him, like he was nothing- Do you remember who his best friend was?" McGonagall looked at Flitwick who nodded.

"Quite the double act- never saw one without the other, anyone would have thought that James Potter and Sirius Black were brothers. James even made Sirius Harry's godfather, I heard." Flitwick agreed.

Hermione's mouth dropped open at the same time Harry's tankard he had under the table with him clunked loudly as it hit the floor. Hermione saw Ron kick him out of the corner of her eye but she leaned closer now to the table of adults as if it would help her hearing.

"You-Know-Who has always had a powerful influence over people, Minerva." Fudge sipped his rum and leaned forward. "You know, not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore had a number of useful spies, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. But You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them their best chance was the Fidelius Charm." Flitwick and Hagrid were leaning in, listening to every word Fudge said. McGonagall wiped at her face, silently crying.

"So Black was the Potters' secret keeper?" Asked Flitwick.

"Nautrally," said Professor McGonagall, "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself... and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' secret keeper himself."

Hermione's head spun as she took in all of the information, trying to form connections in her head.

"Dumbledore suspected Black?" Flitwick asked.

McGonagall finished her Gillywater before replying. "He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed on their movements," said Professor McGonagall darkly. "Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who. Still, James insisted on using Sirius."

"And then," Fudge said heavily, "barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed he betrayed them. He was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and helped plan the Potters' death. But we all know that did not work."

Hermione's eyes fell into slits. She was already suspicious of Fudge but now he reminded her of an actor who was tired of his role and gave half of his effort into acting out his lines. His eyes were even drifting all over the table and floor as he talked, completely uninterested in the conversation. "When You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter, it left Black in a very nasty position. Everyone knew Black was a traitor, so he ran."

Hagrid, who had been very quiet up until that moment, started with his own rant on how he felt about Black, making half the bar go quiet. Hermione looked over at Ron to pretend she was not eavesdropping and he did the same. He mouthed 'Bloody hell' and she shrugged to make it seem they were having their own conversation.

When Hagrid was done with his rant, the bar was just a bit more quiet, making it easier to hear the conversation. "But the Ministry caught up with him the next day? He wasn't able to run?"

"Alas, if only we had," said Fudge bitterly. Finishing off his rum he looked at Flitwick. "It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew- another of the Potters' friends. He went after Black himself."

"Pettigrew... that fat little boy who was always tagging around James and Sirius?" Flitwick asked.

"He hero-worshiped them," said Professor McGonagall. "Never quite in their league talent-wise." She sniffled again and Fudge gave her a seemingly sympathetic look.

"Pettigrew had cornered Black, went for his wand but Black- being a Death Eater- was quicker. Blew Peter to smithereens..." Fudge let his voice trail off as he looked at the faces of everyone at the able. The conversation seemed to have ended then as no one said anything for a long time after that as Hagrid and Flitwick finished their drinks.

"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle," said Professor McGonagall.

Hermione watched the professors exit the inn but when it was Fudge's turn to follow, he got up and nodded at her. Hermione forced a smile on her face and gave a small wave before he put his bowler hat back on and strode from the inn. When they had left and it was clear that they would not be returning, Hermione and Ron looked at Harry who had not moved from under the table, butterbeer spilled on the floor beneath him from when he dropped his tankard.

"Harry?"

When he looked up at Hermione's voice, she saw the pain her own eyes often held, and her heart broke that much more for her best friend.

\--------------------

Hermione woke up first out of the three of them the next day. She hardly slept as she was worried about what Harry would do, mostly because she knew exactly what she would do if she found out someone who was practically her parents murderer was still alive. It was the same day she was supposed to be leaving in a few hours, but with what had happened yesterday at Hogsmeade, she was terrified to leave Harry alone.

Hermione wore her favorite outfit combination of the sweater Molly had knitted her with jeans and her trainers. She sat in one of the bigger chairs of the common room, bouncing her legs waiting for Ron or Harry to come down. Roughly an hour later, Ron came down with his own worried expression on his face.

"Is he still asleep?" Hermione stood up, anxiously watching Ron throw himself into the couch across from her.

"Yeah. I can't even imagine how that must have affected him yesterday."

Hermione sat down next to him. "I can." She whispered. He looked up at her, pity in his eyes and she used her annoyance from that to direct her attention back to Harry. "We need to talk to him. He's going to want to go after Sirius."

Ron sat up, completely serious and awake. They rehearsed for an hour what they would say when he came down the stairs, both of them playing the devil's advocate with each other to make sure all of their bases were covered. When Harry came down the stairs, Ron was the one who was first to speak.

"Harry, you look terrible."

Harry had dark circles under his eyes, proof that he also did not sleep well. Harry sat on the couch next to Ron, reaching down to rub Crookshanks' stomach. "Where do you keep his food? I'll need to feed him while you're gone."

Hermione took a deep breath and shared a look with Ron while Harry was turned away. "I'm staying." Hermione hesitated before continuing. "You really don't look well you know." Hermione had the sense that she would mostly be the one talking to Harry as she would be the one to relate and know when he was trying to deflect the conversation on to other topics.

Harry sat up, his jaw flexing as his hands went into fists but he didn't look up at either of them. "I'm fine and you're not my keeper, Hermione."

Hermione ignored his stinging comment and continued. "Harry, I know you're upset about what you heard yesterday but the thing is, you mustn't go doing anything stupid."

"Like what? What do you think I would do?" Harry's voice was low and Hermione was actually intimidated as she had never seen him like this before, even with Malfoy.

"Like trying to go after Black," Ron said sharply, almost challenging Harry. Harry shook his head and looked into the roaring fireplace beside them.

"You won't, will you, Harry?" Hermione hated how small she sounded but she could not think to loose anyone else.

"Because Black's not worth dying for." Ron added. Hermione winced, that was _not _something he should have said.

"D'you know what I see and hear every time a dementor gets too near me?" Ron shook his head, suddenly looking apprehensive as Hermione covered her mouth with her fingers, a tear sliding down her cheek. If it was what she heard, she could easily guess what he went through every time. "I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you'd heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, _begging _to be killed so you could be sparred, you wouldn't forget it in a hurry. And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers, someone she appointed as your god-father-" Harry's voice was climbing and Hermione could not look at him anymore. She agreed with him even though she knew it was a wrong way of thinking.

"There's nothing you can do! Let the dementors catch him. Let him get sent back to Azkaban!" Ron was matching his tone to Harry's, not out of anger but out of fear. Fear of what this conversation meant and fear of what Harry may try to do.

Harry scoffed. "He was there thirteen years, what is Azkaban going to do for him?"

"So what are you saying?" Hermione asked, rubbing her nose on the sweater, choosing to take the more direct path. "You want to- to kill Black or something?" She already knew the answer and locked eyes with Harry.

"You're mad, Hermione," Ron said slightly panicky but Hermione just stared Harry down, using her chocolate eyes to challenge his emerald ones. "Harry doesn't want to kill anyone, do you, Harry?

Harry didn't respond and Hermione didn't move. He knew just as well as she did that she understood his pain, probably even more than he understood it himself.

After a moment Ron got up, starring Harry down in anger. "Listen, you know what Pettigrew's mother got back after Black had finished with him? Dad told me- the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box." Ron glanced back at Hermione giving her the same grilling look he gave Harry. "That was the biggest part of him that they found. One spell, thirteen people." Ron turned to Harry. "When the ministry found him, he was covered in blood, bloody body parts everywhere and he was _laughing. _You can't just try and kill him."

"He may as well have murdered my parents-"

"Ron's right, Harry." Hermione wiped her pink face with her sleeves. Listening to Ron give the details was like having ice water splashed on to her and she realized they couldn't murder Black. "Black did a thing so despicable there isn't even a word I know to describe it but you would be playing right into his hands. This is what he would want." Harry's featured softened and he looked back at the fireplace. "Your mum and dad wouldn't want you to get hurt, would they? They would never want you to looking for Black."

Harry's head snapped back to look at Hermione and he approached her so he was standing in front of her. "I'll never know what they'd have wanted, because thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them unlike you. Atleast you were lucky enough to grow up with them.

"_Harry!_" Ron hissed as he grabbed Harry's shoulder to pull him away from Hermione stood.

Hermione's jaw dropped and tears fell again. "_Lucky?!_" Her voice shook and she hardly recognized the voice as her own there was so much anger in it. "You think I'm _lucky?!_ If anything, you're the lucky one for never even getting to know them! For not having to walk with your head down for the holidays because if you look at the decorations it will trigger a bloody breakdown! You're _lucky _that you don't have to make up an excuse about your stomach hurting regardless of how hungry you are because their favorite side dish has been present at dinner and it's too much to bear!" Ron tried to approach her as she started to let out heart wrenching sobs between her sentences but she took a step back, feeling that she was not done with Harry. "Or-or not reading your favorite books because they were hand-me-downs from your mum and they still smell like her!" Harry looked completely shocked and guilty as he watched what he had done to his friend. Hermione didn't notice the crowd starting to fill the staircases from both dorms as she continued to yell. "You don't know what goes on in my head, constantly. You may only go through their deaths again with the dementors-" Harry winced and Ron glanced at the crowd. "But me? I don't need a dementor to bring that back for me, Harry. My head is my own dementor."

Ginny ran from the girls dorm of the staircase and hugged Hermione. Hermione wanted to push her off but found herself wrapping her arms around her instead. Harry didn't know what to say as Ron came to Hermione's other side and pet her hair as she bawled, holding Ginny. Many of the Gryffindors didn't know what to do as some started to head out to the trains and others went back up stairs to their dorms, whispering about what they heard. The twins cornered Ron and demanded he get Harry out of the dorms somehow. Ron said they would be going to Hagrid's hut as he passed by. She didn't respond.

After roughly half an hour of crying, Hermione was left hiccuping into Ginny. Lavender and Parvati approached her, offering her tea. Hermione took it, and blew on the surface of it, feeling the heat assault her wet face. Lavender spoke after Hermione took her first sip of the Earl Grey and Ginger blend.

"I overheard you saying that you were going back home for the holiday." Hermione eyed Lavender's blonde hair and hazel eyes, wondering where this conversation was going. Lavender was nice despite how they felt about divination but was one of the people who suddenly tried being best friends with Hermione so it made her uncomfortable. "Pavarti and I agree that it's a great idea- Cosmo Magazine says it's always good to take a few days for yourself after a major blow out with someone close. It allows you both to clear your head and to allow for you both to miss each other."

"Making the reunion all the more sweeter." Pavarti gave Hermione a warm smile. Hermione wanted to return the smile, if only out of politeness, but her face felt twenty pounds too heavy from how puffy the crying made her face. "We can get your stuff for you if you'd like? And can walk you down, we're going home, too."

Hermione took another sip of her tea and looked at her watch. If she was going, she needed to leave in the next ten minutes. Hermione looked up at Lavender who gave her a small smile again. Should she leave? Her stomach twisted to the point it nearly hurt when she thought back to what Harry said, she knew she had to leave. She trusted Ron and Dumbledore, but for her own sake, she had to leave.

"Okay."

\--------------------

Draco, Blaise, and Theo were already setting their suitcases on to the stagecoaches when he saw Hermione walking with the rest of the late students of Hogwarts. She was accompanied by Ginny, Lavender, and the Gryffindor Patil twin, Pavarti. Draco wondered if she actually had more friends than she let on but he had never seen her with Lavender or Parvati and assumed her half swollen face had something to do with it as she had clearly been crying.

Theo nudged Blaise, jutting his head toward her. "Do you think someone died?"

Blaise shook his head and Draco narrowed his eyes, turning around to face his English friend. "Theo, I don't think anyone but my father will appreciate any disrespect towards Granger, including me. I made sure all Slytherins were aware of that."

The three of them watched Hermione and the girls pass by. "Hey, Hermione." Blaise said as he gave a small salute and a flash of his perfect smile. Hermione gave a small wave but continued walking as Lavender talked to her about beauty tips and a variety of things she read in muggle magazines while Hermione made various sounds of agreement as if she found the information to be interesting.

When they had passed and was out of earshot, Theo replied to Draco. "Crabbe must be right then, you do have a soft spot for the mudblood." Draco glared at Theo. Partially out of annoyance to hear that Crabbe and Goyle spread word about their falling out but mostly at the fact his housemates keep making the same assumption.

"I don't, and even if I did, Blaise is nice to her yet no one bothers him about it." It was a weak argument but Draco wanted to hear what Theo's response would be to that rather than actually argue on who was allowed to be friendly. "I already explained to you why-"

Theo cut Draco off after they had all climbed into the stagecoach and shut the door so no one else would join them. "Draco Lucius Malfoy, heir of the Malfoy fortune, one of the few families recognized in the Sacred Twenty-Eight, CAN NOT be friends with a mudblood. It's beneath you- your father's words, not mine." Draco scowled at the mention of his father at the same time the stagecoaches started to move. "Blaise is friendly to everyone as his mother murders her muggle husbands to steal their fortune- he's expected to slum from time to time." Theo shrugged as Blaise turned to Theo.

"_Allegedly _murders her muggle husbands and steals their fortune." Blaise's eyes were narrowed in mock intimidation, a twisted smile on his face. Draco knew Blaise only acted as of he condoned his mother's actions, something he confided in Draco recently.

Theo laughed. "Your mother is not even forty and she's had eight husbands, seven of which are dead. She's literally referred to as the Black Widow-"

"I'll sue you for slander, Knott." Blaise looked outside the window but then turned back to Draco, deciding to continue the conversation Theo had started. "Speaking of 'mothers' though, I think you should do what you want, not what your parents want." Blaise positioned himself the same way Theo was sitting and did his best at impersonating an English accent over his heavy Italian one. "'Draco Lucius Malfoy, heir of the Malfoy fortune- one of the few families recognized in the Sacred Twenty-Eight' SHOULD NOT be a momma's boy. Or a daddy's boy from what you've spoke of him." Blaise changed his posture so he was more comfortable as he spoke, switching back to his normal accent. "I understand the want to please your mother-"

Theo snorted. "I don't."

"As you grew up without a mother, I grew up without a father. So I could never understand the want to please a man." Blaise placed a hand on his chest as he spoke.

"You should use 'father figure' instead, Blaise. You're the only one in this stagecoach that's attracted to men." They all laughed at Theo's joke. "You're right though, about growing up without a dad- you grew up with seven."

Blaise kicked Theo as Theo howled with laughter. "_Anyways_, live your life for you, Draco. If you want to be friend's with Hermione, be friend's with Hermione, personally I think she's smart and even pretty when she isn't drowning in her own tears."

"Pretty?" Draco asked, a look of disgust on his face. "She looks like a bloody bag-lady half the time-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Blaise raised a finger and waved it in front of him. "I'm Italian, _and _gay. I get to say what the definition of beauty is." Theo shook his head as Draco stared, not sure what to say. The carriages had came to a stop though as they arrived to Hogsmeade station. Theo opened the door and climbed out. When Draco went to follow, Blaise put a hand on his chest. "To finish up what I have been trying to say this whole time without this _stronzo _interrupting me- If you want to make her life hell, make it hell. If not, don't. Do what you want to do, Draco." Blaise hit him on the shoulder and winked before exiting.

Draco followed and when he did, he saw Hermione, already in the train window, her eyes zoned out sitting in the train car by herself. Draco allowed himself a moment of honesty for the first time since the funeral, thinking about his feelings towards Hermione. He was curious about her and respected her, but there was more he could not pinpoint.

He watched her pull the screen down over the window and he could only see a faint silhouette "What do I want to do?"

\---------------------

Hermione woke up in the train car, hours later to someone shaking her shoulder. Hermione looked up to see a dark figure and she jumped, not immediately recognizing Blaise.

"Woah, relax. It's just me." Hermione heard a soft snicker and looked at the train car door to see Theo with a huge grin on his face with Draco standing behind him, one eyebrow raised. "We just made it to King's Cross."

"Thank you." Hermione stood and tried to reach for her half filled suitcase but Blaise grabbed it before she did. She held out a hand to take it but he shook his head.

"My mother would kill me if she found out I let a lady carry her suitcase." Hermione yawned, too tired to argue about double standards or gender roles- along with not want to offend the only Slytherin who seemed to be friendly enough when interacting with her. She followed Theo and Draco out with Blaise behind them. As soon as they stepped out on to platform nine and three quarters, they immediately spotted the older Malfoy's, the sun causing their blonde hair to shine with a rainbow hue- especially Narcissa's. Hermione thought her hair looked as if it was other worldly and was mesmerized by it.

Narcissa was wearing royal blue robes that covered her arms three quarters of the way down. Lucius was dressed in black robes that were lined with fur and Hermione felt her nose involuntarily twitch in distaste when she saw his robes, knowing that the Malfoys would be poor before wearing faux fur. The twitch did not go unnoticed by Lucius and he rolled his eyes, letting them settle on to his son. "Good evening, Draco, Theo, Blaise." Narcissa smiled but gave a sharp look at Lucius using only her eyes. "Miss Granger."

Theo and Blaise exchanged a look and Draco fought to keep his mask up. He did not like the tone of Lucius' voice and wondered what had already upset his father. Hermione however, stretched and yawned, knowing the casual action would annoy Lucius. "Evening, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione looked to Narcissa and smiled, receiving one in return. "Good evening, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Hermione, I've told you to use my name, and Lucius', too."

"Do not use my name," Lucius stated immediately but Narcissa swatted his stomach.

"It's Christmas and if she wants to call you Saint Lucy, she shall." Narcissa continued to glare at Lucius and kept a half smile on her face. To her husband and the boys, the expression was cruel but to Hermione, she found it to be the same look she gave Harry or Ron when she wanted to mess with them.

Hermione, feeling somewhat refreshed from sleep and awake from the cold, grinned widely, catching on to Narcissa's game. "Saint Lucy you say?" Having Narcissa as a pen pal, she grew to be fond of her and started to trust her more and more, especially after she had delivered the gauntlets for her wand the day after she asked for them.

Lucius glowered and strode off, leaving everyone to follow. Draco glanced over at Hermione as she walked beside his mother. He would never have provoked his father like she had, yet she did without even batting an eyelash. Hermione knew that Lucius was cruel and still she did not fear him. Draco could not help but respect a bit more, even when the part of him that wanted nothing more than Lucius' acceptance called her stupid.

When they got back to the manor, Narcissa used her wand to levitate their suitcases in front of them so they could walk up the stairs comfortably. Walking into the foyer, Hermione saw beautiful, white decorations all over the foyer. It was elegantly decorated but still minimal. Hermione turned to Draco, a suspicious look on her face. "I thought you said your family didn't decorate."

"I said we didn't use over-the-top, gaudy decorations like muggles do." His face was neutral as he watched her try to think back to their conversation in the alcove. While he watched her, he tried to look for anything Blaise might have deemed 'pretty.'

After a moment she remembered their conversation. "Oh, right. Are the colorful decorations really a muggle tradition?" Between wishing she never saw another Christmas decoration and the sour image of Lucius Hermione had in her head, she assumed that they did not decorate at the manor.

"They are." Theo answered. "Muggles have a habit of catching wind of wizard traditions and running with it." Theo sounded annoyed so Hermione didn't reply.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Narcissa turned around to face her husband. "Lucius, please show our guests to their rooms for me." The men shuffled down the same hallway Hermione's room was in while Draco went to his own hallway and entered his room. After the women heard Draco's door close again with a click, they approached Hermione's door. Narcissa placed her hand on the doorknob but did not turn it. "I have a bit of an early Christmas present for you, I did not think you would want an audience when you saw it." Narcissa opened the door and in the middle of the suite was a Gramaphone with a large, red bow on top.

Hermione put her hands on her cheeks as she approached it. "You didn't have to, I can't accept this."

"But you will." Narcissa waved her wand and Hermione's suitcase floated past them, through the open bedroom door. "I discovered that record players and gramophones would not play the same records so I made some adjustments so you could. If my spell work does happen to have some faults, please let me know."

Hermione put her hands to her chest as she approached the gramophone. Hermione walked around it and sniffled, eyes watering as she looked up at Narcissa. "This means more to me than you can imagine."

Narcissa gave a warm smile but she grew serious. "I did want to ask you about something," Hermione's face fell a little as she herself grew nervous. "Did Draco bully you into inviting his friends? I was expecting other Gryffindors in the very least."

Hermione was reminded of her last argument with Ron, which in turn reminded her of the earlier argument with Harry. She felt so stupid saying he was 'lucky' and struggled with understanding how she thought that was a smart thing to say, even if it was because he said it first. "No, ma'am. Blaise and I have Ancient Runes together and he's rather nice." Narcissa nodded slowly, not fully believing the girl. "My friend's wouldn't of had come and I did not see a reason to not have Mal- _Draco _invite friends over." His name sounded weird to say, especially in a half-lie. The invite she extended to Blaise was spur of the moment borne from pettiness.

"I see. I appreciate you doing that for him but I don't want you to feel obligated to do be so kind." Narcissa wondered how well Draco and Hermione had tolerated each other at Hogwarts and watched Hermione closely for any indication of their relationship.

Hermione didn't know what would be the best response as she was always told to do the opposite by her parents in regards to being kind- between reasonable boundaries that she created- so she told the truth deciding it was safe enough. "I don't. Feel obligated, I mean."

"Good," Narcissa's smile was back, although it was not as bright. "I should also let you know we will be having guests over for Christmas Eve. They will be here for Lucius to try and gain their interest in the orphanage." Narcissa's voice grew soft as she continued speaking. "I know this holiday will be hard for you so I'm only ask for you to join us to socialize before dinner and during. If you do not feel well enough to continue the night, we would understand."

Hermione took a deep breath, already feeling drained at the thought of a formal dinner but knew it would be a quite Christmas compared to Hogwarts. "Thank you."

Both women were silent for a few minutes before Narcissa straightened up and headed to the door. "I'll let you get ready for dinner then."

Hermione turned back to look at the gramophone, running her fingers on the arm that held the needle, thinking about the music she would be able to listen to again.

————————————

Draco woke early the next morning and after showering, he opened his door to wake Theo and Blaise. However, when he opened the door, he saw Hermione standing at his door, fist raised as if she was going to pound on his door. Draco was about to say something but she shoved a parchment into his chest. "I received a copy of this letter with an owl today." He grabbed it and started to read as she stared him down with her arms crossed and lips pressed into a fine line.

_Dear. Mr. Hagrid,_

_Further to our inquiry into the attack by a hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the incident._

_Damn, the oaf got off._ "Why does Hagrid's employment concern me?" He tried to hand back the letter but she just stared at him.

"Keep. Reading. Malfoy." She growled.

He glared at her before he kept reading;

_However, we must register our concern about the hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated._

_Yours in fellowship..._

There then followed a list of school governors, all that Draco knew had their pockets lined with his family's money.

He swallowed hard as his eyes met Hermione's and he didn't miss that her expression was one of fury. Draco had tried not to think about what would happen to Buckbeak over the past few months as it made his stomach turn with dread. "Feining an injury for months when Madam Pomfrey was more than capable of healing it by the time you were released from the infirmary was low. You claim to care for animals and yet you basically sentenced an innocent Hippogrif to death!"

Draco straightened up at her accusation, his dread morphing into anger. "Are you trying to say this is my fault, Granger?"

"I'm not _trying_, Malfoy. If you hadn't been so hungry for attention-"

"You think that's something I would do for attention?" His voice was low and dangerous and he tried to copy Lucius' death stare as best as he could. "My father-" he crumpled up the paper and tossed it at her. It almost hit her face on accident but she batted it away, "told me to pretend my injury was worse than it was. I didn't know what his agenda was going to be." It was a lie as he knew Lucius was after Hagrid, not Buckbeak, but it wasn't information he felt he needed to disclose. "As a matter of fact, _I _didn't even inform my father, Pansy did!" He grabbed the door and slammed it in her face, barely catching the surprised expression she had instead of her angry one.

Hades, Draco's owl, jumped at the sound on his perch in Draco's room and threw his wings in the air. Draco grabbed a random textbook from his desk and threw it at the wall, thinking about how infuriating she was. _She's such a bother_, he thought, but he couldn't help being intrigued by her, even when angry with her. Hermione never sought him out before but she confronted him over a hippogriff having a trial and it left a positive impression on him. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Hades as if the owl could answer his question from yesterday: What did he want to do?

While Draco did not know the answer, he did know that Hermione kept making the question more and more difficult to answer.

\-------------------------

Two days later, it was Christmas Eve and Hermione was soaking in her tub, thinking like she often did, about everything that was wrong in her life. When she first got in the tub, she thought about all the positive things: Harry had apologized to her and while she knew it would be rocky going back to Hogwarts after the holiday, she knew their friendship was stronger than what was said, as horrible as it was. Ron and Harry agreed to get a head start on the counter-argument they were building for Buckbeak, as she did not have access to any books or cases against magical creatures at the Manor.

Her list of what was good was short and the bad list weighed heavier than anything else on her mind as it started to fill her head. Hermione and Draco had not spoken to each other in the past two days since she had blamed him for Buckbeak. While she did not find that to be a terrible thing, as she did not even relatively like Draco, she felt bad once again for attacking him as she had not even made up for the first time in the Hogwarts library. She was grateful for Theo and Blaise though, as Theo kept Draco distracted at dinners and between Blaise and Narcissa, she was also distracted and never had to socialize with the blonde boy who sat across from her. Hermione was having trouble falling asleep again, even with the mild assistance of the dreamless draught and she knew it had to do with the fact that it was a Christmas without her parents- that alone left her in a state beyond tears.

Hermione wondered if death was the same as the ache she felt inside but after a few minutes of pondering the idea she decided it was not, as death was always described as being nothing. Hermione then started to wonder if she was in hell from all the pain she felt and decided that was a much better description as it made sense why she felt like she was constantly being tortured. Hermione put her hands on either side of the tub to pull herself out but when she leaned forward, she caught her reflection in the water and an idea entered her head as she stared into her eyes. Eyes that looked dead, even to her.

Hermione leaned forward. She had tried to keep her hair dry as she bathed as it always hurt more when she tried to brush it while it was wet, but she didn't care. If this was hell, she wanted out, she wanted to see her parents again, she wanted to stop being a burden to the Malfoys and she wanted to stop trying to live up to everyone's expectation's including her own. Hermione plunged her head under the water, counting the seconds even when her lungs started to burn. Deciding running out of air to the point of passing out in the water was taking too long, she willed herself to try and breathe in through her nose but she couldn't do it. She then opened her mouth to try and to breathe in the water but her body refused to listen. As much as she thought she wanted to die, her body would not react to her commands and that deep down it probably meant she did not want to die.

Hermione pulled her head up, gasping for air through her soaked mane of hair that was over her face. _What was I thinking?..._ Hermione moved the hair out of her face and sat there. She knew her thoughts had reached a dark place and it scared her. Her own voice rang through her head from her last day at Hogwarts: _'My head is my own dementor.'_

Deciding she needed to move before she ended up in another downward spiral of thinking, she pulled the drain plug from the bottom of the tub and grabbed a robe and a towel to wrap her hair in. Hermione stepped out on to the soft carpet of her bedroom, looking for parchment and one of her ink-less quills. Yesterday, Narcissa offered to style her hair for the evening and asked for Hermione to let her know when she was ready. She scribbled a quick note, informing Narcissa she was ready, and sent Persephone, who was still mad at Hermione for forgetting her, to alert Narcissa. Hermione tried not to think about where her thoughts were in the bathroom as she used shaky hands to look through her closet for an outfit to wear.

A moment later there was a knock on the door and Narcissa came in. One arm was full of hair product and brushes and the other arm was filled with several dresses. Hermione took the basket from Narcissa's hands and put it on the vanity that was on the other side of her bed while Narcissa hung the dresses by the bed.

"I was starting to worry that you had backed out of my offer to do your hair." Hermione sat down in front of the mirror and watched Narcissa brush her hair. Surprisingly, Hermione wasn't in pain like she was when she or her mother tried to brush her hair. Her hair had always been too much for her parents to handle and they used to cut it short to avoid dealing with it- saying the hair style made her look like Shirley Temple. When Hermione was old enough to take care of it herself, they allowed her to grow it out so long as she kept up with it herself. Hermione never blamed them as she and Harry alone were proof on how unruly wizard hair could be.

"No, although I am surprised you haven't stopped brushing yet."

Narcissa laughed softly and it reminded Hermione of bells ringing, the sound of it being so pretty. "I had a sister whose hair was just like yours until it became easier to manage after she became a woman. I believe that was right around your age."

"Oh," Hermione looked up again and saw that Narcissa was putting a creme on to her hands and running it through Hermione's thick hair. "I didn't know you had a sister. I had assumed you were an only child."

Narcissa had a focused look on her face as she put another creme into Hermione's hair. "I have two, but I don't like to talk about them."

Hermione's eyes drifted to the basket of hair products, knowing the topic of 'family' would not continue. She wondered again how close Narcissa was to Sirius Black. Her eyes flicked back up to Narcissa's calm but focused reflection and wondered if she ever felt the awkwardness Hermione felt. In another time, where her parents were still alive, Narcissa probably would have called her the same slurs Hermione _knew _Lucius still did and yet, she was here now having the elegant woman put her hair into a perfect high bun, accented with braids, along with curls falling strategically around her face. A woman who may or may not know her husband had sentenced a magical creature to death. A woman whose cousin sentenced her best friend's parents to death.

Hermione wanted to let out a manic giggle at how convoluted her life had become. Hermione almost took the risk of asking Narcissa if she was close to Sirius when Narcissa pulled out the last piece of hair. "There."

Hermione leaned closer into the mirror. "You reckon the men will recognize me?" Narcissa laughed again and Hermione gave a small smile. Hermione decided then that she needed to focus on tonight's dinner as it seemed to be an important night for the Malfoys and the orphanage. "I've been to a gala before but I am unsure how much they differ from Wizarding ones. Would you happen to have any books on general wizard etiquette on formal gatherings?"

Narcissa smiled and Hermione thought her eyes watered for a second. Hermione wondered how the Malfoys were able to make basic facial expressions yet still stay unreadable most of the time. "Of course." Narcissa checked her watch. "Not tonight though, I have to head down stairs and verify everything is going as planned."

"Alright," Hermione stood and looked at the dresses, trying to decide which one would be best. "How formal is this dinner? And what is to be expected?" Hermione felt her nerves start to make her stomach flip and she wrung her wrists, something she had not done in a while as she usually had her cube or wand to mess with.

"Any of these dresses will do. All we are asking for tonight is for you to come, greet the guests and eat dinner. When it comes to business we usually have a much more formal dinner but... our guests still have yet to be convinced this is a good investment." Hermione thought Narcissa had a dark look on her face but she was unsure. "If you have no more questions, I will see you in a couple of hours."

"Yes." Narcissa was almost out of the room before Hermione spoke again. "I appreciate you help, N-Narcissa. With everything. I don't believe I said it before." Hermione held her breath hoping she did not offend Narcissa with something that sounded to close to a 'thank you.'

Narcissa turned around and smiled at Hermione, a smile that Hermione thought to be genuine. "Of course, Hermione." With a click, Narcissa was gone and Hermione stared at three dresses in front of her. Hermione thought all of the dresses were beautiful though they all had different styles;

The first dress was white with gold, delicate embroidery, the second was black with silver beads and the third was green with red plaid designs- a very muggle selection Narcissa made if Theo was telling the truth. Hermione stared at the dresses and reached for the black one. It would allow her to match Lucius and the boys but it reminded her too much of the funeral dress she wore. While a cynical part of her found it be fitting, she frowned, letting her hand drop back down to her side. The white dress looked like something Narcissa would wear but she wasn't exactly a fan of white clothing.

Hermione looked again at what she would call the only Christmas dress in front of her. The dress was a deep forest green but had a red plaid bow a little below the neck, to the side. Hermione appreciated the bow not being in the middle as it would have looked tacky. A part of the skirt had been changed to a plaid design and it was a nice touch to balance out the solid and pattern designs of the dress. Hermione wondered what Lavender would think of the dress and took it down from the hanger, deciding that if she was going to feel uncomfortable at dinner, she should at least be uncomfortable in colors she grew up with.


	14. Year Three: Part IV (Christmas, part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All songs mentioned are linked in the End Chapter Notes in the event you would like to listen :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series or the music (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Draco was silently cursing whomever designed French cuff dress shirts. No matter how many times he had to wear them for formal diners, he always struggled with getting the chain link cuff links through the four layers of fabric. Draco had gotten one on completely but while he was pushing one end of the link through the hole, he heard a snapping sound.

Draco pulled his hand away to see one end of the cuff link in his hand while the other dropped to the floor. "Bugger." Draco bent over to collect the other end of the cuff link and he started to inspect the broken link, wondering how to fix it before Crewe came to inform him dinner was ready. Lucius knew Draco struggled with cuff links every time he had to wear them and always berated him for it, saying he was completely useless in the simplest tasks. As he let his head roll so he could look up at the ceiling, he couldn't help but feel like Lucius was right at that moment.

He undid the one cuff link that he had managed to get on and search his drawer for another pair. _Merlin, please let me have another gold pair._ Sapphire, opal, diamond, ruby, jade and a bunch of other gems and stones but Draco only had the one pair of gold cuff links- the only pair that would have matched the decorations in the manor and the ones Narcissa asked him to wear. Draco slammed the drawer shut and put his head in his hands, the sleeves of the shirt completely loose and unfolded again. Draco heard a knock on his door and walked over to open it but hesitated just before reaching for the knob.

"Who is it?" He stood close to the door, willing with all his might his father's voice would not answer him.

"Your knight in shining armor!" Letting out a breath he did not know he was holding, Draco swung open the door to reveal Blaise, leaning against the door frame, Theo standing upright with his hands in his pocket, and - much to his surprise- Hermione, arms crossed over her chest. "_Ciao_."

Draco stared at Hermione, partially because he was still miffed from her accusations the other day and partially because she didn't look half bad in a dress with her hair under control. "Come in." Draco stepped to the side and let all three of them enter. He wasn't sure why the three of them were hanging together but he didn't have to ask as Theo gave an explanation anyway:

"I was in the foyer when Lucius asked for me to get us all together so we can enter simultaneously. I didn't think you were still half dressed, though." Theo had a teasing smile as he looked at his friend. Blaise threw himself on to Draco's bed and Hermione stood by his dresser.

Draco huffed as he walked back to his cuff links drawer, located by the dresser. "I'm not half dressed," he grumbled as he angrily sifted through his cuff links. "My bloody gold cuff link broke." Blaise jumped up from the bed and joined Draco to see what his collection looked like. Hermione watched as they both would pull out random cuff links then shoot them down almost immediately with reasons like 'too tacky', 'father would kill me', 'that's a summer color', 'mother would hex me', 'that will just blind everyone at the table', and so on. Draco was starting to have an internal meltdown and he could hear his father's voice already, telling him he was not worthy of the Malfoy name. In the back of Draco's mind his calm voice told him it was not about the cuff links.

After a few moments, Crewe walked into Draco's room to inform them that they were needing them downstairs and Draco groaned, not caring Hermione was there to watch him.

"If it's that much of a bother, why not just wear red or green ones so we can match?" Hermione reached into the drawer and quickly withdrew a ruby cuff link and an emerald cuff link.

Draco chuckled darkly. "And why would I want to match with a mu-"

Blaise put a hand over Draco's mouth. "That's actually a great idea. This is about an orphanage, right? One that your parents are opening because Fudge is forcing them to become more public about the whole adoption-"

"What do you know about Fudge?" Hermione took a couple steps closer to the boys staring at Blaise before looking at Draco. "What did you tell them?"

Draco rolled his eyes, choosing to be annoyed by her rather than acknowledge that his business was, in a way, her business when it came to her living arrangements. "They know the basics."

Theo walked over to them then, standing behind Draco. "We're not going to tell the whole school, Granger. Draco filled us in as it was easier than walking around eggshells for the two weeks we were here."

Hermione was going to say something else to Draco but Crewe walked into the bedroom. "Young Master, your father is waiting." Crewe glanced at the door nervously. Both Draco and Hermione knew the look and she thought back to when she had exited the maze in the summer, watching Draco get hit by his father was not something she wanted to witness again. Blaise started rolling up the sleeve closest to him as Hermione reached over to do the same. Draco was not only surprised that she knew how to deal with the French cuff dress sleeves but that she instinctively started to help him.

He wanted to push her off from annoyance but it was never wise to keep Lucius waiting. Both Blaise and Hermione secured the link at the same time and when Draco looked to see what color they chose, he wanted to scream seeing that he had both the Ruby and Emerald one on. "You've got to be bloody kidding."

Hermione put a hand over her mouth trying to stop herself from laughing as Blaise patted one of Draco's shoulders. "We don't really have time to deal with those sleeves again." Theo handed Draco his jacket and Hermione ran into the bathroom quickly.

"Granger, you're not serious right now?" Draco slipped on his jacket angrily but was surprised when she came out seconds later, eyes wet and pinching her cheeks.

"If they ask why we're late we'll just say I started to freak out." Her eyes met his and he understood. Draco hated the idea of having people do things for his sake but he let it slide, reassuring himself she was only doing it because she technically owed him a couple apologies. As they walked, Hermione went from pinching her cheeks to rubbing her eyes to make them look red.

"Perhaps the sorting hat is wrong sometimes?" Blaise said to Theo, half joking.

Theo gave a curt nod as he watched Hermione with pursed lips. "Ravenclaw or Slytherin?"

Blaise never got the chance to answer as they entered the small drawing room, the one that was often used when the Malfoy's had small formal dinners. Draco and Hermione entered side by side, in front of Theo and Blaise. In the drawing room, Narcissa was sitting on one of the sofa's while Lucius was standing by the arm of it. Across from them, sitting on the other couch, was a very tan man, woman and child. The man and his son, who looked to be about eight years old, both wore a deep blue suit, probably out of courtesy of English formal wear as the woman was wearing a traditional blue Luau dress. The dress looked to be made out of the finest silks and she wore jewelry that Draco knew would sparkle even if all the candles were to be blown out.

Narcissa and the guests stood but Lucius strode past them all, switching to a glower once they could no longer see his face. "What took you so long?" He growled low so only Draco, Hermione, Theo and Blaise could hear.

Hermione rubbed a dry, pink, eye and made a point to sniffle before answering. "I was having a bit of a meltdown, do you mind?" Lucius and Draco both had a look of shock on their face. _What is she doing?_ Draco could not help but think she was completely barmy for provoking his father.

Lucius, being the suave business man he was, swallowed his anger and turned around, smiling as he looked back at the guests. Blaise and Theo moved to stand by Hermione's side as they were introduced. "And these are the children we have been telling you about!" Lucius placed a firm hand on Draco's shoulder. "This is Draco, Hermione, Theodore, and Blaise." Draco did not miss how his father worded the introductions so he did not have to refer to anyone as his children. Draco heard Blaise his something that sounded like a command to Hermione and the four of them bowed in sync as the young boy translated what Lucius said to his parents.

Draco wanted to groan. When ever a translator was involved, it always made the dinner twice as long and twice as boring. "Children, this is the Mahelona family, they had come all the way from Hawaii to talk about the orphanage. We have the pleasure of serving Keanu," hearing his name, the older man nodded. "Ona," the beautiful woman who rivaled Madam Rodemerta's beauty gave a shy wave. "And Lono."

The young boy gave a slight bow himself. "Good evening, and Merry Christmas." His parents echoed his Christmas greeting with broken English but with a substantial amount of confidence.

Draco smiled in response as he, Theo and Blaise said "Merry Christmas" themselves but the room went quiet when Hermione gave a greeting of "Mele Kalikimaka."

Blaise and Theo looked at each other as Draco glanced at his parents for a reaction. Even Lono did not know what to say as he looked up with his parents. Suddenly, Ona came forward and hugged Hermione, then turned to her husband while keeping one arm around Hermione as she spoke in her native tongue to Keanu. Keanu and Lono laughed as she finished what she said.

"I'm sorry," Hermione didn't step out of Ona's hold but was uncomfortable with the situation she was currently in. "What did she say?" Lono opened his mouth to translate but Ona decided to answer herself in perfect, unbroken English.

"I said, 'I'm finally happy that Keanu has brought us to a dinner where our hosts aren't ignorant and dismissive of other people's backgrounds.' It's something I was talking to him about today."

Hermione gave a tentative smile and even with her buck teeth, Draco saw what Blaise meant when he called her pretty. Draco immediately tried to shove the thought away, trying to convince himself his nerves were driving him mad. "I only know of it from an old Christmas song-" Hermione was cut off again by Crewe appearing in front of them.

"Master, dinner is ready."

"We will sit together, yes?" Ona looked at Hermione whose face was nearly as red as the plaid design on her dress. Hermione nodded but it did not matter as Ona did not wait for a reply, looping an arm with hers. Draco thought he saw a look of distaste on Hermione's face but was unsure. Traditionally, Lono should have been escorting Hermione while Ona was escorted by her husband but Ona did not seem to be one for rules, nor being overly polite. "I really like your dress, most of the time, the daughters of our hosts are forced to wear something plain like black or white. Hawaii is full of color and it can be a bit of an eyesore to see young children being forced into dreary clothes." Narcissa was walking with Lucius but glanced back at Ona with a raised eyebrow, saying nothing. Draco was quite unsure how the dinner would go as Hermione had, once again, upset the natural order of things.

Blaise leaned into Draco, whispering into his ear, a mischievous tone in his voice that rivaled the thickness of his accent. "Don't you think she looks rather nice, Draco?"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Ona is beautiful although she is a bit older than what I'm used to."

Blaise shook his head, grinning. "You know who I mean."

Draco did and he looked at the back of Hermione's head, seeing an unshaped curl had already made it's way free and sat at the base of her neck. "I suppose she cleans up rather nicely."

Blaise snorted but did not say anything else. When they made their way to the bigger dining room, one they had been using all of the winter holiday instead of the smaller one that was made for four people, Lono pulled a chair our for Hermione and Draco pulled one out for Ona.

"Is it safe to assume that Keanu also speaks English?" Narcissa asked Ona as she rang a bell for their first course to appear.

"It is." Keanu answered. "It's a bit of a game we play when we meet with potential business prospects. If we find them worthy, we'll switch to English. It also keeps Lono engaged in the conversation so he can learn as much as possible about these things." Keanu smiled at his son lovingly and Draco felt a pang of jealousy that hit deeper than the ones he felt with Harry Potter. Lucius never looked at him like that.

"I see." Lucius took a small sip of his wine.

"I hope you are not offended?" Keanu swirled his glass of wine as he watched Lucius.

Lucius smiled but Draco knew it did not reach his eyes. "Of course not."

By the time the third course was done, Hermione was completely socially exhausted. Ona sat on her right, chatting off her ear worse than Lavender had and only stopped talking to her when the pleasantries were over and the got onto the serious topic of the orphanage.

The Mahelona family, Hermione learned, were half bloods who had opened up orphanages around the world and the Malfoys were willing to offer them a portion of the orphanage's ownership if they were to offer their guidance in the non-prophet work and become a spokesperson. The Mahelona family were respected by the wizarding communities and was a recognized name- not as recognized as the Malfoys but just enough for them to be considered one of the elite via climbing the social ladder.

"I do not understand why you had come to us, Lucius." Narcissa rang the bell for the fourth course to appear as all eyes fell on Keanu. "You seem to have done your research and do not really need our guidance. I feel as if there may be another reason you're wanting us to merge?"

Lucius took a deep breath and looked at Narcissa.

"The orphanage we're wanting to open would be a muggle one." Everyone stopped eating at that point to look up at Narcissa. Lono was the only one who continued eating as all eyes fell on her. "Most of the orphanages your family has opened has been muggle ones, completely uncharted territory for us, I'm afraid." Narcissa took a sip of wine, never dropping her pleasant mask. Hermione admired how she could keep such a strong poker face and hoped one day she could be just as good.

"That's interesting." Ona finally said. "I had always heard that the Malfoy's were a proud pure blood family." She looked at Hermione then back at Narcissa. "I should have known that was not true though. Taking in a muggle born with the rumors we heard flying around just did not make sense." Hermione glanced at Lucius who drank deeply from his wine glass to distract the flash of disgust in his eyes that Hermione did not miss. Hermione had stopped eating after the second course as her stomach was clenching and unclenching from her nerves when they were only making small talk. Now, Hermione could feel herself become physically ill as she hated being the center of attention with strangers and hated even more it was about the worst part of her life. Hermione glanced at her plate and wanted to scream at the realization they still have two more courses to go.

"I think it was the best thing we've done in quite a while. Children are blessings and her situation was quite unfortunate." Narcissa spoke quietly and Hermione refused to look anyone in the eyes, even after Narcissa's kind words. She knew if she were to look up she would only see pity or distaste, neither of which she felt she could handle right now.

"So why did you adopt her?" Ona asked boldly. Her tone sounded almost flat, clearly not believing Narcissa.

"I'm sorry?" Narcissa, and everyone but Keanu and Lono, was surprised at Ona's directness. Hermione noted Keanu looked almost smug.

"It's a sensitive topic but I feel it's one that should be answered if we are to consider this deal seriously. Orphanges are non-profit, there really isn't too much in it for us other than being able to say we've worked with Lucius Malfoy on something. It's not something that we would mind so long as the intentions are genuine- as genuinity is what we find all of our orphanages on. There is no reason to build a home for dozens of heart broken kids on a foundation solely relying on images and names." Ona waved a hand, cutting off her own rant. "You understand, right?"

Ona smiled sweetly but it was the same smile that Pansy Parkinson gave every time she said something that was insulting but was said in a roundabout way so the insulted did not realize it until they thought about it a while later. It was a belittling smile and while Hermione knew Narcissa could handle herself- Narcissa's eyes had turned into pin points and her mouth was open to reply- Hermione did not like that the closest woman to a motherly figure she had in her life was on the receiving end.

"You think they adopted me because they had ulterior motives like looking better to the public?" Everyone looked at Hermione as she confronted Ona. If they were shocked before, now they were flabbergasted. _'Sensitive topic'? She has no clue!_ Ona started to answer but Hermione cut her off, trying to mimic Draco's condescending attitude as best as she could. "That's the third time you've insulted us tonight I think. Pretending you don't speak English? Childish." Lucius drink from his wine glass at that and Draco silently cleared his throat remembering when they spoke French in front of her. "Making a comment about our clothing choices when four of us are wearing that color? Completely indelicate. The Malfoy's had everything to loose and nearly nothing to gain by taking me in, yet, you want to question their intentions? In front of _me_?"

"I only wanted to make sure their intentions were genuine. Which judging by your actions they-" Ona's cheeks had a pink tinge as she tried to back peddle.

"And who are _you_?!" From the corner of her eye she saw Narcissa act as if she was about to stand but Lucius held a palm up, a glint in his eye Hermione did not recognize. "If _your _intentions were only to insult the people who were kind enough to take me in then you should never have came."Hermione stood, throwing her cloth napkin over her plate. “Excuse me, but I’ve seemed to have lost my appetite.” When she stood, her chair fell back and turned into the smaller blocks her desk chair had fell into in the summer. Hermione jumped over the remnants of the chair and stormed out without looking back. Walking into the foyer, she felt herself come down from her adrenaline rush and the Christmas decorations whelm her again. Hermione walked up the stairs slowly, refusing to let herself think about what had happened or what that meant for Lucius and Narcissa until she was in bed.

When Hermione had made it to her room, she collapsed on to the floor. She didn't cry but she stayed there on the floor for a while, her emotions weakening her. No one came after her and she was grateful for that. One emotion that she seemed to feel over the rest was shame as she had never acted out like that before and felt as if Narcissa would hate her now. Hermione tried to think of techniques to take her mind off of what would happen tomorrow or even tonight if Narcissa were to approach her but they were no use. Her stomach turned to the point she had ran into the bathroom and vomited the few courses she was able to eat. She thought puking was the worst feeling in the world and thought about the times she would lay sick in bed, her mother reading a book as she watched Hermione, her father playing the cello for them to have music as white noise.

Hermione got up, brushed her teeth then washed her face. She looked at her hands to see them shaking and slowly walked out of the bathroom as she thought back to her memories of being sick in bed. The want to play slowly crept up on her and she was moving to closest before she had time to talk herself out of it. Hermione pulled the cello case out from the closet and threw it gently on to her bed. She unclasped the clasps and carefully lifted the cello out of it's case releasing the end pin.

Hermione sat on her desk chair by her bed, Cello secured between her legs, with the bow in one hand while her hand tuned the strings with the other.

\--------------------

Draco sat there, staring at the space where Hermione and her dining chair were. If his parents were not upset about her outburst, they were going to be upset about the value of their dining room set dropping.

No one moved at first but then Narcissa flashed a smile at the stunned Ona. "Fourteen year olds and their hormones. You understand, right?"

Lucius choked on his wine but no one laughed as no one knew what else to do. Ona flashed a smile herself after she got over the shock of what happened, and Narcissa resumed small talk with Keanu as if nothing had ever happened. Lucius, Draco and Theo stayed quite while Blaise chatted with a nervous Lono, who had never seen his mother be yelled at before. After the last course finished, Narcissa stood.

"I think it would be best to move this back into the drawing room. Theo, your father tells me you put angels to shame with how well you play the harp."

Theo smiled, "it would be an honor to play for you, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Perhaps we should call it a night-" Keanu glanced at his wife who almost looked like she was sulking.

"Nonsense! We still have much to talk about!" Narcissa returned the smile to Theo then looked at Lucius. "Lucius, can you guide our guests to the drawing room while Draco and I get our drinks?"

"Of course, my love." A look passed between them that Draco recognized all too well.

Draco followed his mother into the closest kitchen and watched her conjure mugs and tankards that had gems in them. "Place your hands on two of the mugs and think of a color, Draco." Draco did as he was told and Narcissa waved her wand over them. "_Notez Moi_." It was a spell they had performed before, it was used to mark the mugs to tell whose drink belongs to who, but Narcissa altered it so that only the person who is touching the object at the time the spell is able to see the markings. "Lono is going to have pumpkin juice so you'll be able to tell his mug from the ones filled with coffee."

Narcissa was casting a series of non-verbal spells and Draco watched as coffee started to pour into the two marked mugs and two unmarked mugs, chilled pumpkin juice from the fridge poured into one and four tankards were filled with butterbeer. "There is an extra tankard." Draco cocked his head to the side and looked as the drinks finished filling.

Narcissa cast the last of her spells to put the drinks and their ingredients away before casting heating charms on everything but the pumpkin juice, which earned itself a chilled charm. "No, you'll need to bring Hermione her butterbeer."

"Oh." Draco pursed his lips, wondering if he should ask is mother how she felt about her outburst at dinner. She was in a good mood, one he suspected had to do with the wine she drank and the fact she had always been a light weight.

"I found it to be both hilarious and touching."

Draco looked up at his mother who was reaching for a potion all the way on the top shelf. It was a pretty periwinkle color and not one that Draco recognized. "What did you find to be hilarious and touching?"

"Hermione yelling at Ona." Narcissa had a smile on her face and her eyes twinkled as she held out the potion to Draco. "One drop in the marked drinks and the pumpkin juice." Narcissa then handed him a dropper.

"How did you know I was thinking about that?"

Narcissa laughed and Draco couldn't keep a smile of his face hearing it as it was one of his favorite sounds. "You're my son! I'd be damned if I couldn't keep up with you. Can you imagine all the things a growing boy would get himself into if I just let him run all over me?"

Draco shook his head, still smiling and eyed the potion. "What is this? I don't recognize it as the one we used before."

Narcissa sobered up but a shadow of a smile was still on her lips, tucking a piece of stray bang behind her ear. "We call it _Fickle Me Happy. _It's an old Black recipe but it makes anything that would have made the person upset or angry in the last twenty-four hours find it to be amusing. They'll remember everything that happened but it will just be funny. They'll go into fits of hysterics if the memory is supposed to be bad enough." Narcissa pursed her lips, watching her son use a dropper on the three drinks, a strange look in her eye. "I think I'll use this one instead of the memory altering one from now on. It's a bit much for little fits at dinner parties and a lot less work to brew."

Draco put the cork back on the potion and handed it to his mother who sent it back to the shelf it belonged. Narcissa then levitated the drinks, following Draco who held open the doors for her as she walked, back straight, and shoulders squared- as if she was a queen.

"I'm so happy to see someone putting that Harp to use other than me." Narcissa said, stopping in between Theo who was almost done playing Duex Arabesques by Debussy and everyone else who was sitting on the couches watching him. Once she stopped walking, Draco understood that was the cue to start handing out drinks. To avoid raising suspicion, he gave Lono and Ona their drinks first, then Keanu. He then gave Blaise his butterbeer, and put Theo's by him for when he was free from playing. Draco gave Lucius his coffee last, and his mother plucked her own from the air, leaving him with the two floating tankards.- one for him and one for Hermione. Draco took one in each hand and looked at his mother who nodded.

"I'll be back." He said more to her than anyone else.

"This is very good coffee, where is this from?" Keanu leaned over to Narcissa and Draco did not miss Ona drinking from her own cup or how Lono was nearly done with his pumpkin juice already. Narcissa grinned and leaned forward to talk to Keanu as Draco slipped out of the smaller drawing room.

Draco counted each step he climbed thinking about what he should say to Hermione. As Draco walked down the hall to her room he scrunched up his face, wondering what state he would even find her in. When he neared her suite door, he saw the door was cracked and could hear music playing. He pushed open the door with his shoulder and walked in. He placed one of the tankards down and closed the door behind him quietly so he did not alert her. When he walked past the gramophone after picking up the tankard, he noticed nothing was playing and stood before her bedroom door where the playing was the loudest.

His mouth dropped once again as realization dawned on him. She was playing, and she was _good_. Not even good, but great. Draco set a tankard down on the table as he grabbed a chair and moved it a few feet over so he could listen to her play. He had never heard a cello by itself before and it intrigued him. He thought he heard her play one or two notes off key but he was unfamiliar with the song she was playing and the emotion behind it was so powerful that he could hardly complain if she did. He listened to her play a couple songs for what seemed like a few minutes but had to be more as when he tried to take another drink of his butterbeer, it was empty. Draco felt calm even though he knew he should have returned downstairs a by now and supposed it was the bit of alcohol that butterbeer had in it. The more Draco thought about the Mahelona family, the more he did not _want_ to return downstairs. He never would have thought he would take Hermione's side in anything but he was grateful she had said what she did. Draco looked at her butterbeer and considered drinking it himself then leaving just so he would not have to stop her from playing but knew it would have been too easy for his parents to find out what actually happened. He took a deep breath and got up, holding the one tankard in his hand and stood in front of her bedroom door. He wiped a sweaty hand on his pants and went to open the door but remembered her comment about knocking.

He quickly rapped on the door and with was for sure an off key note, the playing stopped. "Ye-yes?" Hermione's voice sounded squeaky and when he opened the door she stood on the other side, hands clasped together in front of her, while the cello was propped against the bed and one of the bed posts. She sighed with relief seeing that it was Draco- something he was sure neither of them thought would ever happen. "I thought you might have been Narcissa. Or Lucius." Hermione grimaced and Draco flinched knowing what she was thinking. He looked at her and again he was reminded of her lack of confidence.

"Mum thought it was funny, and father did not let her stop you when you were ranting. I don't think you'll have much to worry about." He held the tankard out to her. "She wanted me to deliver this to you."

Hermione's grimaced disappeared as her eyebrows shot up from her surprise. She took the tankard from him and took a sip. "Is this butter beer?" He nodded, putting his hands in his pockets as he did not know what to do with them now. "I've never had it before. It's rather good." Hermione sat back down on her bed as she continued to drink the warm, sugary beverage.

"Have you not been to the Three Broomsticks?" Draco did not mean to sound accusatory, more questioning as that was always the place students from Hogwarts went to when there was a trip to Hogsmeade.

"My stomach wasn't up to it." Her reply was short and she did not look at him as she set the tankard on her desk and she sat in her desk chair again.

Draco understood the reply was meant for him not to pry and he respected that. Not thinking of anything else to say, an awkwardness started to settle over him. "I'll head back down and let mother know you're alright." He turned to leave the room, not convinced he will actually be able to make it downstairs if she started playing again as she was that good.

"Did you not want to hear me play?" Draco turned around, but did not speak as he was unsure of how to respond. He was expected to be downstairs, not stalling by listening to her play. Hermione grabbed her cello and placed it firmly between her knees. "It's what you said before. You're a bully and a prat but what I said was uncalled-for. Both in the library and at your bedroom door the other day, I shouldn't have stooped so low." Hermione had a haunted and far away look. "My parents would not have approved." The last part was said in a whisper, more to herself than to him.

Draco thought about going downstairs again but looking at Hermione, he did not want to leave her alone. He could hear Narcissa's words in his head about mental health and Hermione was currently a DSM definition of not being in a good head space. Then there was also the fact that he realized he didn't just want to avoid going down stairs, he wanted her company. There was no Harry or Ron here nor was there Pansy and the rest of Hogwarts for him to uphold a reputation too. The only one to stop him was himself. "Okay."

Hermione looked up at him then and gave a quick nod. She had not expected him to accept her offer but if she was being honest with herself, she did not want to be alone anymore and was relieved he did. She missed her best friends and even though she Harry and her had apologized via owl, her anxiety told her she ruined her friendship and he now hated her. A part of her felt weird about using Draco as a stand in for her friends but she turned her attention back to the cello. She watched him sit on her bed, across from her and before playing, she felt a corner of her mouth come up in a cynical smile. _Funny how I said I could never see myself playing in front of him._

Draco watched Hermione start a song he recognized as the second part of Vivaldi's Winter and he immediately wondered how his father would react to hear her play his favorite composer so effortlessly. Draco had gotten the feeling that Hermione saw the extension of her body, not something that she simply played to keep her hands busy. Draco stared at the floor, choosing to listen at first rather than watch, getting a feel for the sound of a cello.

When she finished playing the first song, he gave a tiny clap. "Brilliant."

Hermione blinked several times, coming out of her trance, and grinned. "Was that a compliment, Malfoy?"

Draco was taken aback for a second. He had complimented her. "I meant the instrument is brilliant."

Hermione laughed and although it was not a beautiful one like his mother's, Draco couldn't deny it was a far cry from Pansy's chortle which was very nice. "It's OK, I know I play well. I don't need you to tell me."

Draco shook his head smiling, it was nice to see a part of her that seemed to have disappeared from her. "I don't know if I could say you're good after hearing you play one short song."

Hermione gave a playful scoff but nodded. She could not tell if it was bait for her to keep playing but she took it anyway. Hermione brought the bow to the cello again. Hermione played the first first few cords of Aurore Dassesse by Gaspar Cassado and immediately became succumbed to her playing, focus and muscle memory taking over. It was a somber piece although it was difficult. It matched how she was feeling perfectly and offered her a validation in her feelings she had not felt for the longest time. Her father always said that music was magic and she believed it. Hermione loved the feel of the vibrations that seemed to resonate with her very soul itself and said the things that she did not have the words to say or could not say as her body would become overwhelmed with sobs. The cello was not just an instrument to her, but a healing tool and she would berate herself later for not choosing to play it sooner.

Draco watched Hermione's playing intensely. She was playing one of the songs he heard her play before he came in but he did not mind. He did not blame her for refusing to play for him before as he felt he was watching an intimate part of her and wondered if she ever played in front of Ron or Harry. It was as if she was playing her heart and soul, not an arrangement written by a wizard or muggle composer. By the end of the song, he had his elbows on his knees and his head rested on his fist. Being able to properly listen to her play instead of hiding behind a door, he thought the cello to be a fantastic solo instrument, hitting notes he had not heard any other instrument reach on their own before. Then again, he realized, he only knew piano, his mother and Theo knew the harp while Pansy played the violin. Daphne claimed she had a voice that rivaled a siren's, but had never heard her sing. Crabbe nor Goyle had the determination or discipline to even properly hold an instrument.

When she finished the song, he was at a loss for words on how to describe her playing. Hermione stared at the floor for a moment, then looked up at him. She had tears in her eyes from the emotion the piece pulled from her and knew from looking at Draco he had felt at least a of fraction of what the piece meant for her. Hermione suddenly felt embarrassed and rubbed the unshed tears from her eyes. Somewhere, a grandfather clock struck midnight.

"It's later than what I expected it to be." Hermione stood and started to put the cello away. Draco knew that he was going to be in trouble at this point regardless how late it was as he had already been gone for over an hour if it was already midnight. Draco looked at the foot of her bed and watched as her presents slowly started to appear at the foot of her bed. Hermione closed the cello case and watched the presents herself. His eyes flicked over to her and he realized he never got her one. He did not know why this caused panic to rise in him but his quick thinking Slytherin brain came up with an idea.

"I want to show you something."

Hermione looked at him, confusion on her face. "Now?"

He nodded, looking bashful. "It shouldn't take too long as it's not far from our rooms..."

Hemione looked back at the presents, hating that they were there, letting her know it was a sign that the worst Christmas she was ever going to have had finally arrived. "Okay." It was an echo of him accepting her invitation to play for him but neither of them acted like they noticed. "Let me just..." Her voice trailed off as she put the cello back in the closet. When she came back out, he was waiting for her at the door of her suite, looking down the hallway to make sure it was clear.

Hermione lightly cleared her throat behind him and he slipped out into the hallway. When she followed, he placed a hand on the door and silently closed it, not releasing the door handle until the latch was perfectly lined up with the strike plate in the door. "Why do I get the sense you're going to have us sneak around?" Her voice was slightly disapproving, slightly playful, but mostly curious.

Draco rolled his eyes before turning to her and grabbing her wrist. "Come on," he whispered back. Draco did not think about the fact that he was supposed to avoid touching her at all costs as she was dirty, or that they were both ignoring the distaste they held for each other to give each other peace for once. He just thought about how he had felt lonely at the manor for years and didn't want them to keep fighting since she was going to stay with them until she was of age.

Hermione resisted his pull at first but she followed him, allowing him to sneak them down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, they stayed crouching as Draco listened for any footsteps. When he heard a distant laugh from the drawing room, he pointed to the hall that was by the stairs. They both fast walked over and he glanced behind them as they turned down the hallway. Hermione appreciated he was much more cautious when having to sneak around as Ron and Harry hardly cared unless someone was two feet away from them. Granted they had the invisibility cloak but that did not stop them from being heard.

When Draco finally released her wrist, they had stopped in front of a pair of double doors that were almost as wide as the ones for Lucius' study. Hermione tried to read the plaque by the door but the hallway was too dark. She took a step closer to it, squinting but Draco threw a hand over it. "Don't read that."

Hermione crossed her arms. "Why not?" As much as she loved adventure, Hermione hated the idea of not knowing what she was getting herself into when the knowledge was right in front of her.

"Because this was partially thought through and is hardly a Christmas gift as is." His voice had a slightly annoyed tone to it and he stood in the middle of the hallway, before the double doors. "Can you stand here?"

Hermione was surprised at his answer so she did not reply as she did what he asked. A part of her started to feel guilty as she had not even thought to get him a gift either but it was all forgotten when he threw open the double doors in a dramatic fashion.

Hermione's mouth and arms dropped simultaneously as she stepped into the Malfoy Library, her body immediately becoming saturated in the blue moon light that of the wide windows at the top if the Library's ceiling. There were crystal chandeliers at the ceiling of the Library and there were easily tens of thousands of books as the library seemed to run the remaining length of the manor.

Malfoy was grinning, at the astonished look on her face was completely comical. He was satisfied with the result of showing her the library even if it was- quite literally- a last minute thought. "You hate it?" Draco teased as he closed the doors behind them after making sure the hallway was still clear.

She turned around, putting her hands to her face. "No, no, no! I'm just- It's a lot- I didn't know." Her eyes drifted the shelves again. There were literally books everywhere. "Why is it called a manor when this is obviously a mansion?"

Draco shrugged. "Because it used to be before it was expanded by a Malfoy several generations ago." Draco pointed to a large portrait by the right door behind them. There was a woman sleeping in a gold, corseted, Victorian dress. Her matching fan was nearly slipping out of her hand on to the floor, but the ruffles in he dress seemed to hold it in place. "She wanted to make the manor so she would never have to leave it as everything she needed would be here. She made it difficult for the rest of the Malfoy women to leave their mark as it is tradition for them to make an expansion or create a room. It's why you'll see most of the portraits in a room being a woman or a woman with her family while the men line the hallways." Draco spoke in a matter of fact tone and when he didn't hear a response, he looked at Hermione. She was staring at him, completely Godsmacked. "What?" He narrowed his eyes at her and gave her a once over, not liking the look at all.

"My family traditions included making a soufflé on mum's birthday or letting mum be the one to put the star on the Christmas tree," Draco wondered if Hermione noticed she was talking about her mother without having a breakdown but let her continue. "And you just told me, _your _family tradition is to make an expansion to your _mansion_?!" Hermione was not yelling but was astounded at what she had heard.

Draco grinned and looked at his feet before looking back at her. "Or the property. Mum did the inner and outer gardens."

Hermione could not believe her ears and she held her face in her hands as she looked back at the library- her now favorite place at Malfoy Manor.

He let her stay like that for a few minutes but knew that they did not have much time to waste. He opened his mouth to say they should go but it seemed she remembered the same thing too as she turned back to him at that same moment. "I suppose I couldn't spend the night in here, could I?"

Draco smirked and shook his head, already walking towards the door. "You can come back nearly anytime though. There isn't a restriction on this library like there is on the other one."

Hermione looked at him wondering if he was joking before rolled her eyes playfully, as he reached to open the door. "Of course there's another Library. Tell me, is there-"

Hermione was cut off as the door opened and in front of them both was a very angry Lucius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs mentioned in case you wanted to have a listen:
> 
> Duex Arabesques by Debussy: https://youtu.be/hWTe3C_RoDo
> 
> Winter (Second part of the song) by Vivaldi: https://youtu.be/4xIZJgA6EXQ
> 
> Suite for Cello solo by Gaspar Cassadò (Song Draco did not recognize): https://youtu.be/9NMEqi7LG6w


	15. Year Three: Part IV (Christmas, part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Child Abuse
> 
> A/N: Between the people commenting on here and on my FFN account, I was motivated to write this chapter differently, which is why it is now a three-parter instead of two. I was overwhelmed with the cliffhanger feed back and wanted to thank you all for pushing through the slow beginning of the story. Thank you and have a Happy New Year!
> 
> I'm not sure if has been made obvious or not but I am taking scenes and dialog from the books and putting them into the fic. I figured I should just let that be known in case no one was aware (although page 394 is an iconic quote so I think y'all already knew.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Shortly after the Mahelona family finished their drinks, they left with smiles on all of their faces. Lucius, Narcissa, Theo and Blaise had seen them off before the boys returned to their suites, tired from being up so late.

As soon as Lucius and Narcissa were alone, Lucius started to vent about what had him so uptight . "So he thinks he has the right to just disappear in the middle of dinner? Did we raise an ape?"

Narcissa was working on her last glass of wine and drank from it before answering. She was watching her husband pace back and forth in the dining room they had eaten dinner in earlier with an amused look. "It was not the middle of dinner, Lucius." She cast a _reparo_ on the chair Hermione had sat in earlier and frowned. "How much do you think the value of the set has dropped? It's an antique, you know."

Lucius paused his pacing for a moment, placing a hand on his hip, before giving a generic answer. "Several thousand Galleons I would think. I'll just buy you another and sell this one to a muggle at full price. Not like they would be able to tell anything happened to it." Narcissa smiled at her husband and drank the rest of the wine. At the same time she looked at her watch, as a grandfather clock somewhere struck midnight. "Midnight! I should go into his bedroom chamber and wake him-"

"You will do no such thing." Narcissa gave him a stern look that he challenged with his anger. She softened her face when she spoke again, wondering if she had the time to start a conversation she's been meaning to with Lucius. "I've been starting to think that... maybe we've been-" but the chime of someone flooing in interrupted her. "About time." Narcissa huffed as she strode past Lucius, handing him her empty wine glass. He vanished it immediately and closely followed, wondering who had the permission to floo in past the wards at this time of night.

"Who in-" When he saw who it was, he paused. "Dr. Augsen."

Dr. Augsen walked up to Narcissa and gave her a hug. "Happy Christmas- Come, let's talk in the drawing room." Narcissa grabbed the healer's hand and followed Narcissa into the drawing room. Lucius narrowed his eyes as he stared at them both, not understanding why his wife acted as if the doctor was a close friend.

When Lucius closed the door behind him, Dr. Augsen spoke. "I am so sorry I'm late, Ted held me up and I nearly had to hex him so he would fall asleep so I could sneak over." Narcissa laughed loudly as if Dr. Augsen told the funniest joke in the world. If Lucius knew who Ted was, maybe he would have laughed, too.

"Doctor, why are you here?" Lucius crossed his arms in front of him, standing tall. While he was angry with his son, he also felt terribly tired and every guest that remained in his home meant that he needed to continue to wait for sleep.

"Please, sit." Narcissa waved a hand to the couch, acting as if Lucus did not speak.

"I can't," Dr. Augsen sighed. "I have to be up early tomorrow. Did you not tell him why I was coming tonight?" Dr. Augsen waved a hand in Lucius' direction.

"I'm right here." His narrowed eyes turned into a full on glower as they spoke like he was not there but both women gave him a look that was so alike, it was uncanny, yet oddly familiar. Lucius studied Dr. Augsen's face, wondering for the first time if he had ever seen her before. Him and his wife did not affiliate with too many people outside of their pure blood circle but he made it his business to study everyone he ever had business with. Not once did the surname 'Augsen' come up between him or his wife- he was sure of it.

"I did not, I thought it would be better for you to tell him." Narcissa smiled mischievously as she looked back at the woman before her.

Dr. Augsen pinched the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses and sighed. "Always needing some form of entertainment in your life, Cissy?"_ Cissy?_ Dr. Augsen turned to Lucius with a tired look. "I'm here to help you get Fudge out of office."

Lucius stood frozen for a second before looking at his wife, his face twisting in anger as he was offended by her lack of trust. "Why did you tell her? Since when did you start trusting people outside of our circle? Or anyone other than me?" Lucius turned to Dr. Augsen. "And why would I need your help? Why do you even _want_ to help?"

Narcissa looked at Dr. Augsen instead of replying. The healer had a knowing smile. "Is family outside of your circle?" Suddenly, Dr. Augsen's face started to morph. He pulled out his wand but by the time it was level with the other woman's chest, Andromeda Black was standing in front of him. "Hello, Lucius."

"Put your wand away, Lucius." Narcissa said softly as she put a hand on her husband's chest, taking a step closer.

Lucius narrowed his eyes again. He did not look away as he spoke or lower his wand. "I thought your family cut her off."

"We did." Narcissa's voice was soft but it was confident. She refused to show any emotional weakness, even to her husband whom she hoped would listen. "But a few years after the Da- _Voldemort's_ disappearance, and Draco's birth, we reconnected."

Lucius glanced at his wife then. He had wondered if she ever missed Bellatrix as he always thought she considered Bellatrix to be her only sister after Andromeda was disowned by the Black's. He never brought up Bellatrix to Narcissa as he did not want to make her sad- not that he did not want to be there for her, but she was a bit unstable and hard to handle when she was deeply saddened.

Not knowing what to say, he said the only thing he could think appropriate at that moment. "She's a Blood Traitor, Narcissa."

The two women seemed to unfreeze from their tension at that moment. Andromeda scoffed while Narcissa sighed, and he thought he saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes. Thinking that, his shock was replaced by shame fueled anger as the only person who looked at him like that was his father. Lucius put his wand away and returned to stare at Andromeda who had a look of disgust on her face. "I don't know what I expected from you. I don't care how highly Narcissa talks about you saying you've changed. You're still the same ego-centrist, Voldemort worshiping assh-"

"Andromeda, please. He did not hex you on sight, did he?" Neither Andromeda nor Lucius spoke but they glared at each other. "Lucius, I told Andromeda about your plan to get Fudge out of office because I thought you might want the inside help."

"I thought you were leaving Fudge to me?"

"She's left Fudge to you for seven months and look at what has happened to Fudge so far: Nothing." Andromeda was sneering at Lucius and he took a step towards her when Andromeda turned her attention to his wife. "Narcissa, I asked you to tell him ahead of time so we would not have to go through this. I'll come back once you have caught him up on our plan." Andromeda turned her glare back to Lucius, unfazed that he was standing closer to her. "A plan that would actually be done in a reasonable amount of time." Andromeda started to walk towards the foyer, and already her hair was going from the deep Mahogany into a pale bottle blonde. Her figure even became more slight in the smallest ways as she walked into the foyer, her exit being announced by the 'whoosh' of flames.

Lucius looked at Narcissa, his mask completely gone for her. "What is going on? Why didn't you tell me you and Andromeda started talking again?" He could only ever put his anger aside for her and she knew it, placing her hand on his cheek. She knew that having him and her sister meet was risky but she had faith in Lucius. Since Voldemort's demise he had come a long way- whether he realized it or not- despite his cruel exterior and _firm_ discipline he used with Draco.

"I knew you would not have reacted well at the time. The rest I'll explain to you upstairs." Narcissa and Lucius walked out of the drawing room. While they were walking up the stairs, he started to tap into the wards of the manor as he always did before he went to his bed chambers. He felt two presences in the kitchen and two in the library. He stopped on the middle of the stairs with a deep sigh, his anger bubbling up from annoyance and lack of sleep. Narcissa turned around hearing her husband's displeasure but he answered her question before she could ask it.

"Theo and Blaise are in the kitchen while Draco and Granger are in the Library."

Narcissa frowned at his use of Hermione's surname but decided not to comment on it as she would have a long night explaining Andromeda's involvement with the Ministry later. "I'll go to the library then-"

"You do that, Narcissa. My pitiful son can't handle his own offspring and a mudblood, so he'll let his wife do it!" A portrait of Abraxas Malfoy that was poised above the staircase called out. "Never did have a spine. Should've been in Hufflepuff if you asked me." Lucius rubbed his temples as he marched down the stairs, regretting not having Crewe take down that portrait like he had for most of the other Abraxas portraits. He had thought the portrait would be fine as this Abraxas slept during the day and had not bothered anyone at night.

Narcissa quietly followed and did not speak until Lucius walked past the the corridor leading to the closest kitchen. "Aren't you going to the kitchen?"

He waved a hand over his shoulder for her to go while he kept walking towards the library. "I can handle two children." Narcissa thought about stopping him but knew Abraxas was more than a tender spot with Lucius, even at his age he still felt like there was still something to prove. Narcissa walked to the kitchen, hoping that by the time she got Theo and Blaise back into their suites, Lucius would have had Draco and Hermione in their rooms.

Lucius strode to the library at a quick pace, each step heavier and more purposed. When he got to the doors of the library, he stopped outside of them. He could hear faint talking and footsteps coming towards the door.

"... this library like there is on the other one."

There was a pause, then he heard Hermione's girlish voice filled with sarcasm next. "Of course there's another Library. Tell me, is there-"

Draco opened one door of the Library revealing a very angry Lucius who was peering down at both of the teens. Hermione saw him first though as Draco was turned away, listening to what ever she was going to say next. When Draco whipped his head around to see Lucius standing at the entrance to the library, he involuntarily took a step back. "Father." Lucius took a step forward so he was past the entrance of the Library.

Lucius spoke in a low tone, completely ignoring Hermione as he addressed his son. "Draco, would you mind telling me why you never came back down from bringing Miss Granger her drink?" Lucius took another step towards his son and Draco took another step back. Draco had his hands balled into fists to try to stop his trembling but it just barely worked. Hermione watched, not knowing what to do other than put herself in front of Draco, again, creating that physical barrier between Draco and Lucius. Lucius took a deep breath, creating a soft emotional reset before speaking. He wanted to make a point with Draco- one that was quick- but Hermione always added fuel to his fire as she was a constant reminder of Minister Fudge. _I can't hit her. I can't call her any names. Do _not_ hit her._"Yes, Miss Granger?" His voice was still low but they all could hear how tense it is.

"It was my-" She started but Lucius did not let her finish.

"I have no intention of listening to any more of your excuses." Lucius stepped to the side but Hermione stepped with him. "If you decided to have another one of your breakdowns, _wonderful_, but I do need to talk to Draco."

Hermione's face flushed red at his accusatory comment. "You can't just hit him because you feel like it."

Lucius looked at her, a shocked expression on his face. Then, he let out a barking laughter that made him double over. It made Hermione jump with how loud and how sudden it was. She dared a look at Draco, who in the very least, looked completely uncomfortable and unsure what to do. When Lucius was able to stop laughing long enough to speak and the echo of his laughter quieted, he spoke. "Of course I can, but if it makes you feel any better- I don't. I only discipline him when he needs to be. _Now_," Lucius put his hands on his knees in a condescending manor as he looked her in the eyes. "Get out of my way so I can teach him how to be a proper gentleman," He growled.

Hermione, much to his displeasure, only straightened up further and even stuck her chin out a bit. "No." She locked eyes with him and she only looked away to glance at the portrait when she saw movement in it- alerting her it was now empty.

Lucius snapped at that second, his stress from the day finally getting to him. "_Little girl_," Lucius grabbed her neck- not hard or in a way to actually strangle her, but in a way she felt so uncomfortable she stood on her toes, allowing him to guide her to the side. "The more you fight me on this, the worse you make it for him." When she was out of his way, he advanced on Draco and in one swift movement, punched Draco so hard in the stomach he immediately crumpled and started dry heaving. Lucius' lips pulled back in a snarl, ready to tell Draco to get up but Narcissa walked into the Library, her heels clacking furiously on the Library's marble floors.

She looked at Draco who was gripping his stomach and making retching sounds on his knees. Her voice was dripping venom as she spoke. "LUCIUS ABRAXAS MALFOY, ARE YOU MAD? Completely Barmy? Shall I call a healer for you? Creating a mess, on what is technically Christmas?" With each question she took a step forward. The woman in the gold dress had returned to her portrait but was fighting off several other Malfoy ancestors with her fan as they were trying to follow her into her portrait. Narcissa looked over at Hermione who was gripping her neck, more out of shock that Lucius actually touched her as she felt no pain. "DID HE HURT YOU?" Hermione shook her head vigorously. She was so scared and shaken up by the two older Malfoys that she felt her head pound with a headache. Hermione felt the need to explain what exactly had happened but she wanted the violence to stop more than anything else.

Hermione walked over to Draco who was now crying silently on the floor. She tried to put an arm around him but Draco pushed her and she fell on her rear. Her face immediately flushed again but she did not dare to do anything else until Lucius had left the library as she was afraid the argument continuing. Narcissa had watched the interaction between the two teens and anger flashed once more in her eyes. She leaned into Lucius and spoke quietly. "When they go back to Hogwarts, Lucius, I swear-" She cut herself off as she shook her head. "Sleep in the guest wing. Do not join us for Christmas dinner or the rest of the dinners for their holiday." Lucius opened his mouth to speak but she continued talking. "Don't bother talking to me, either." Lucius had been married to his wife for over twenty years and knew she meant what she said. It was not the first time she had said this to him before, but it had been a while. He threw a glare over his shoulder at Hermione, a glare that did not go unnoticed by Narcissa. "And do _not_ blame a _child_ for your actions."

Lucius made to walk out of the Library but not before Abraxas was able to get his head into the woman's portrait. "Only made him cry did you? When I punched you, you were vomiting the whole week! AHA-" The woman shoved Abraxas out of the portrait and posed with her fan as if it was a bat, waiting for him to try and intrude again. Lucius did not stop or turn around when Abraxas taunted him, or when Hermione gasped at the insight she heard into Lucius' childhood.

Narcissa crouched next to Draco's other side and removed her wand from her dress, pointing it at his stomach. "_Eliminata._" Hermione watched Draco's shoulders and back relax as his stomach pain was numbed. "I imagine there will be some bruising, I'll summon the healing balm before I get you into bed." Hermione moved closer to Draco when Narcissa moved to help him stand but he moved away so he was leaning into his mother instead.

"Don't touch me." Draco sounded more like himself and it made Hermione both happy and sad to hear. Happy because he was no longer in a lot of pain, sad because he sounded disgusted by her again. "I don't need help from a mudblood like you, you only make things worse for me, anyway." Draco's walls were back up and he was pushing her away again by echoing Lucius' words. His father hated her and the way his mother was seemed more concerned about Hermione over him when she had come into the library had hurt him deeper than Lucius' insults or beatings ever had. In that moment, he felt the same hate felt for her and Harry when they were on the quidditch field last year.

"_Draco!_" Narcissa was completely surprised to hear her son speak that way in front of her. A part of her was confused why she was so surprised as she knew how pure bloods are and what ideals her son was raised with. _She_ had even taught him those ideals at one point but to hear her son speak words with so much hate hurt her. She knew she was wrong for encouraging the behavior when he was younger which is why she had tried to make the best out of Hermione's adoption. She learned slowly over the years that she never wanted to hear him sound like his parents had when they were his age.

"It's fine." Hermione's voice was small and her eyes watered. She had not lied to him on the staircase at Hogwarts when she said the word did not hurt her but in the past hour she had forgotten they were not actually friends and the slur hurt almost as if Ron or Harry had said it themselves. Without another word she got up and walked out of the library and up the stairs to her suite.

When she got to her bedroom, she immediately got into bed without changing out of her dress. She tried not to think about how lonely she felt as she cried and fell asleep, forgetting to take her dreamless draught.  
\-----------------------  
_Hermione found herself walking down a cobblestone street in France. While she recognized the place, she couldn't remember why she did not want to be there, but she had the feeling she needed to leave. Hermione stopped in her tracks and was immediately bumped into by someone behind her. When she looked behind her, she saw that Lucius Malfoy was looking down on her, his hair was neat and perfect as it always was. His clothes were dark and his face had a look of disgust on his face._

_"Why are you always in my way?" He brushed past her but grabbed her arm to drag her with him. "You little ingrate-"_

_"Let me go! I have to get out of here!" Hermione kicked and screamed but his grip would not loosen. She could not stop thinking about how she could not allow them to get to the end of the street. She had looked back trying to see if she could grab on to something to hold them back, but saw nothing. When she turned back around, Lucius was no longer dragging her, but Draco. "Malfoy?" He glanced at her, a guilty expression on his face but he kept walking forward. She used her other hand to grab his shoulder in an attempt to spin him around. "We have to get out..."_

_Hermione's voice trailed off as she looked at the end of the street where a man was standing. She couldn't see the man's face but knew there would be a young face under the black bowler hat. When the wind blew his trench coat open, she remembered why she felt the need to run and planted both feet into the ground, causing him to look back at her with wide eyes. While the man was not the one who killed her father, she knew that he planned to kill her too. "Draco, please!"_

_Draco glanced down at her chest, and pointed at it as he took a step back from her. When she looked down, her chest had blood blooming from the center of it. She lifted her hands to stop it bleeding more and saw that her hands were already covered in blood. Hermione felt herself hyperventilating and loosing consciousness, the sound of laughter was in her ears except it was not the insane laugh of her parent's killer, but Lucius Malfoy's laugh. Before Hermione's vision went black, she saw Lucius Malfoy, still laughing as he stood behind a horrified Draco Malfoy._  
\-----------------------  
_Knock, knock, knock._

"Hermione?" Narcissa poked her head into the bedroom, looking at the bundle of covers and unopened presents at the end of the bed. Narcissa frowned. Narcissa had come upstairs earlier to ask Hermione to join her and the boys for breakfast, but saw she was still sleeping. Now that it was nearly one in the afternoon, she came to check on her again only to find her missing from her room.

Narcissa closed the door and focused on the wards of the manor. She was not as good as Lucius in reading the energies she felt and could not tell who was who on the wards alone, but by process of elimination, she was able to identify who was where. Narcissa saw three balls of light sitting together in their music room, there was one where the piano was in the room and knew that it was Draco with Theo and Blaise. There was a single ball of light in the Malfoy Annex, that had to be Lucius as he was the only one who spent time there. Narcissa was unsure whether to smile or frown that the last ball of light- the one that had to be Hermione- was in the library.

Narcissa started her walk to the Library, wondering what Hermione was doing there by herself. Usually she would be ecstatic to have another child as studious as her son in the manor but after last nights events, she was unsure if it was wise for Hermione to go back to a place that she had ran out of, nearly crying. When Narcissa found herself in front of the library doors, she quietly let herself in and closed the door behind her. Narcissa walked through the large shelves of the library, looking around for the desk Hermione would be sitting at.

When she got to the middle of the library, she found Hermione in front of their library card catalog. Narcissa smiled, resisting the urge to laugh as she watched Hermione's intense expression. Hermione was listening to one of the portraits of Danita Malfoy, the woman in the gold dress whose portraits were nearly everywhere in the Library so she could assist people in finding what they need. Since Danita had such a huge hand in the manor's design, she also had several portraits around the manor -mostly on the guest's wing to guide them -which was how she had alerted Narcissa of Lucius in the library.

"... and if you need to help finding a particular book, just come to this portrait and tell me what you need. I'll direct you through the card catalog then to the book- Oh! Hello Narcissa. Happy Christmas"

Hermione turned to see Narcissa standing by her. Hermione looked like she had a bit of a guilty face that caused Narcissa to wonder if Hermione had been awake earlier when she knocked on her door.

"Happy Christmas, Danita, and Happy Christmas to you, Hermione." Narcissa looked Hermione over and saw she was wearing the sweater molly gave her with jeans. Narcissa hated the look but imagined it must have been comfortable for Hermione to wear the outfit often. She noted that Hermione's hair was now in a ponytail but was still primarily under control as the product she used weighed down the hair, not allowing it to frizz up as much. Narcissa let herself have a small smile as she watched the earrings she bought Hermione blink in the natural lighting from the windows, earrings that she more often than the sweater as it was easier to keep them in all the time than take them off everyday.

"Happy Christmas, Narcissa." Hermione stood there, unsure what to do next.

"I hope you slept well and would not mind joining me for lunch?" Narcissa phrased it as a question but Hermione knew better. As comfortable as Narcissa made the manor, she still had expectations that were to be met.

Hermione resisted the urge to let her disappointment show as she planned to start working on the hippogriff case and she nodded once before speaking. "That would be nice. I left before eating." Hermione took a step but then turned to wave at Danita. "Thank you for telling me about the library, Miss Danita." Danita smiled as she waved back, watching Hermione and Narcissa walk off.

"She's nice." Hermione tried to make small talk so she would not think about the last time she saw Narcissa in the library.

"Yes, she's definitely one of the nicer wizards who has a portrait." Narcissa guided Hermione from the Library, into the foyer where there were the only Christmas decorations were.

Hermione looked around once, forcing herself to look at the decorations, and noticed for the first time that there were fairies flittering about in the air. They were small like the once's in Professor Flitwick's classrooms but much more elegant looking. "I didn't notice the fairies before."

"You must invite the fairies in for winter when it gets too cold. It's common courtesy for all that they do for nature throughout the year." Narcissa sat down on a pillow in front of the fire place. There was another one for Hermione, and she sat as she looked over the food between them as it looked like a tiny feast for two. There was a small roast turkey, jellied consomme with Red Caviar, buttered peas with mushrooms and a moderate sized baked potato. Everything but the caviar and the Turkey had been arranged on their plates. "Caviar is an acquired taste. I was unsure how you would feel about it."

Hermione felt grateful once again for Narcissa as she hated caviar. "You're one of the more considerate people I've met, ma'am." Hermione ate a forkful of the peas and mushrooms, savoring the taste, while she watched Narcissa serve them both Turkey. Hogwarts always had a unique feast to offer but the manor had a more flavorful plate to offer.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Narcissa looked at her watch. "Your next Christmas gift should be coming up soon." Narcissa took out her wand and summoned two glasses and a bottle of Espresso Eggnog before giving Hermione a smile. "The other one is in your room, still wrapped."

Hermione had a guilty look on her face as she drank the eggnog, both for not looking at her gifts and for not getting any of the Malfoys a gift. "I didn't get you anything. Or Lucius." Her voice got lower as she continued speaking, not meeting Narcissa's eyes. She almost added 'or Draco' but last night she played her Cello, something she had not done for Harry or Ron. It was personal to her and whether he considered it a gift or not, she gave him a part of her that was very personal. No matter how many times she either played with someone or in front of someone who was not her parents, she always felt that way.

"Lucius and I expected for you to have other things on your mind. Plus, there isn't many things we can't buy for ourselves."

"It's only polite." Suddenly, she felt a wave of anger directed towards herself and her face flushed. "I was raised better." Hermione gripped her forked tightly as she stabbed at her food, forcing herself to continue eating even though she was too depressed about the day to have a real appetite.

Narcissa watched the girl with her cool blue eyes, thinking back to what she was going to tell Lucius last night before Andromeda came in:_ I've been starting to think that maybe we've been too hard on him_. Narcissa grabbed the espresso eggnog, wishing she had thought to add a bit of fire whiskey in her glass. "I know you were." Narcissa had grown fond of Hermione through her letters. Narcissa taught herself how to look past people's faults over the years, especially when it was something that they could not control, like lineage.

Hermione looked at her then but her attention was averted when she heard her name being yelled through the flames. "Hermione!" She did not move at first until Ron poked his head through the fire place. "Hey!"

"Ooh!" She jumped when Harry put his head though the flames next to him.

"Hullo, Hermione- Merry Christmas by the way! You too, Mrs. Malfoy!"

Narcissa had a polite expression on her face, none of the small warmth she had moments ago were present in her regal features. "Happy Christmas to you, Mr. Potter." She raised an eyebrow to Ron and her voice became monotone. "And to you, Mr. Weasley." Ron looked away out of embarrassment from his lack of manners.

Hermione started talking at that moment to avoid the conversation taking a turn for the worse. "What are you guys doing? Does Dumbledore know that you're using the floo network?" She tried not to sound lecturing as she was ecstatic to see them but she worried constantly about them getting into trouble, or worse. "You better not get expelled while I'm gone on holiday!"

Harry grinned and Ron rolled his eyes before smiling. "Reckon you shouldn't have left us to fend for ourselves, then?"

"That's not funny." Hermione smiled despite her heart clenching for a second. She was fourteen and knew that she should not be worrying about her friends being _alive_. "How did you like your gifts?"

Both of the boys faces lit up and they both spoke at once; "You'll never guess what I got!", "Did you get it for Harry?", "I thought you hated quidditch!"...

Hermione grew more and more confused as they spoke until eventually she interrupted. "What are you talking about?"

Harry and Ron briefly shared a look. "Harry got a Firebolt, Hermione. We, er, assumed you got it for him since you were the only one we could think of who could afford it." Ron's face was red as he glanced from Narcissa to Hermione then the floor and back up to Hermione.

"No, _you_ assumed Ron. I said that she wouldn't of had gotten me something like that without getting you something of equal value." Harry was slightly exasperated as he shook his head.

"Was there no note or card?" Hermione shifted so she was no longer sitting on her rear, but was on her knees, starting to grow anxious.

Narcissa stood, holding her plate and cup. "I'm going to take these to the kitchen."

Hermione looked at her, she knew Narcissa could vanish the dishware to the kitchen but she decided to give Hermione privacy. "I appreciate that." Hermione turned back to her best friend's once Narcissa was almost out of the foyer. "It's a bit odd, isn't it?"

Ron sighed, heavily, already knowing where Hermione was going with it. "It's the best broom there is, Hermione." He almost sounded condescending and Hermione straightened up her posture as she stared him down. "It probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together." Ron shifted his tone so he now sounded smug and not so direct.

"Who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?" Hermione tried to take a reasonable approach, as she often did, and even stared to give Harry a pleading look. He looked away, knowing she was making sense but not wanting to admit it.

"Who cares?" Ron had Hermione's attention again as he stared at her, eyes wide. "Listen, once Harry and I have a go on it, we'll owl-"

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom yet!" Hermione knew she sounded shrilly but her nerves got the best of her. Regret filled her, telling her she should not have left Harry again, anxiety told her that Sirius Black sent the broom and depression weighed her down, letting her know that if anything were to happen to Harry or Ron, it would be her fault. Hermione put both hands down on the floor, trying to focus on how to breath.

"What d'you think Harry's going to do with it- sweep the floor?" Hermione looked up at Ron then. After she took a few deep, controlled breaths and tried for reason again.

"What if it's jinxed or cursed? We don't know who sent it, Ron! And then the break-in-"

"It's not cursed!" Harry and Ron said in sync.

"You don't know that!" Hermione was scared of how this was going to affect their relationship after they just barely started talking after their last fight. Hermione did her best to keep her cool and not let her emotions get the best of her. "Harry please, just have it looked over by someone! Professor Flitwick or Madam Hooch-"

"It's a broom, Hermione." Harry tried to take a more muggle approach which would have normally insulted her if she was not so panicked.

"An expensive, magical, flying broom that may have been bought by a malicious wizard! If it was tampered with, they may be able to trace the magic back to who did it! I read in-"

"Who do you think did it then?" Ron had his eyes narrowed at her. "The Malfoys?"

Hermione gasped and would have hit him if she wasn't so shocked at his bold accusation. "Th-They wouldn't! I was thinking Siriu-"

"They gave Ginny a book cursed by You-Know-Who! Why wouldn't they?!" Ron pulled his head out of the fire and Hermione crawled forward so she was in front of Harry's head.

"He has a point, 'Mione." She studied Harry's face, seeing a mix of emotions on it. Hermione hated that she could feel her old fears for her safety with the Malfoys being uprooted again. She wanted to believe that Ron was just speaking out of his arse but she knew that Lucius, if not Narcissa, was more than capable to send something like that.

"They would have killed me before they would have tried to harm you." She spoke softly, looking at the flames by Harry's head rather than at his head.

"We don't know that." Harry sighed. "I'll try talking to him. I'll owl you later."

Harry pulled his head out of the flames but Hermione was not done talking to him. "Wait, Harry-" She stuck her head in the flames before the connection was fully closed. The odd sensation of only having her head through the floo threw her off for a second as ash went up her nose. She coughed when her head was fully through, and she looked up to see McGonagall's office with Professor McGonagall standing by the door that had just closed.

"Miss Granger!" McGonagall was surprised to see Hermione. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, Professor." Hermione opened her mouth to ask if Harry would come back but another idea that immediately filled her with guilt came through as she looked at her professor with sad eyes.

"Is something the matter? Shall I get Mr. Potter?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Or was this Mr. Potter's doing?"

"No ma'am... I actually needed to talk to you about something."

Professor McGonagall walked to the fire place, and crouched down. A concerned expression was on her face. "I'm listening."

Hermione took a deep breath through her mouth that she immediately coughed back out as the heat dried out her mouth. After clearing her throat she looked up at her Transfiguration Professor. She knew Harry and Ron were going to hate her but she would rather them be mad at her and possibly losing Harry as a friend than seeing him lose his life. She didn't help in the dementor attack on the quidditch field last month for nothing.

"Harry was given the new Firebolt as a Christmas gift. There was no card or note with it... And I think it was sent by someone with ill intent." Hermione watched her professors face before adding on quietly, "like Sirius Black."

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips into a line and stood up. "Thank you, Miss Granger, I will handle it. I have to head to dinner soon then I will collect the broom for it to be stripped."

"Stripped?" Hermione's stomach stopped it's flipping and sank as if it were cement.

"Yes, to check for jinxes. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks. It will be returned as soon as we are sure it is jinx-free." Professor McGonagall gave her a pitying look. "You're brave for doing this. I won't tell them it was you-"

"They'll already know." Hermione was staring at the ground now, sounding completely somber. "They're not idiots."

McGonagall knew Hermione did not mean anything by what she said and gave a quick nod even though Hermione was not looking at her. "I imagine you need to get going now."

"Yes." Hermione looked up at Professor McGonagall. "Thank you."

When Hermione pulled her head out of the fire, Narcissa was already sitting back down at the table. "I hope all went well? I was unsure if Dumbledore would have made an exception for you to floo your friends but was happy in receiving his response saying he would allow it once." Narcissa smiled as Hermione took a sip out of her now nearly room temperature eggnog.

Hermione gave a tight smile at the mix of emotions she was feeling. She was happy she saw her friends but was anxious and dreading when she would hear from them again. She knew they would be livid when they found out what she had done. "I'm running out of ideas to show you my gratitude with all of the nice things you are doing for me." Ron's angry face in the flames flashed at her again and she wondered if Narcissa would allow Lucius to send Harry a jinxed broomstick if she knew, but dismissed the idea. They had no reason to harm Harry and the diary was a dark artifact that Lucius wanted to dispose of. It was far from an excuse from what he did to the Weasley's but Hermione could not see what could be gained from harming Harry.

Narcissa returned the smile and wanted to tell Hermione that she did not need to repay her, but she didn't. Narcissa was actually doing all of these things to thank her, but did not tell Hermione this. Through their letters, Narcissa had her eyes opened a bit more as to what needed to change between her, Lucius, and Draco. Hermione had what Narcissa would call a much softer upbringing and while she wore her heart on her sleeve, Hermione still turned out to be a bright, strong girl. A girl Narcissa was happy to have around as she could have ended up adopting someone like Millicent Billstrode who seemed to be a female version of Goyle.

As Hermione ate her food, Narcissa chatted about the plans for the orphanage and the Gala they would be having in the summer. Neither them brought up about the stressors that were really on their mind as they sat together, bonding over Hermione's half-eaten meal.  
\-----------------------  
Narcissa had not heard from Lucius for nearly a week, five days to be exact. On December thirtieth, when she was getting ready for dinner, she had walked into their room to find him waiting for her on their bed.

She had not seen him until she had already closed the door behind her. When she did, she locked eyes with him for a second then walked past him to her closet, choosing to ignore him rather than chastise him. Lucius knew that Narcissa did not want to see him and she was not going to guess why he decided to not listen to her about wanting space till the end of the children's holiday. She picked out a red evening dress and closed her walk-in closet door behind her before he could follow.

"Narcissa, this is ridiculous." His voice was muffled through the thick wooden door.

She slipped out of her mint colored afternoon dress, letting her face fall into a scowl. "Your behavior is ridiculous." She put her legs through the red dress and pulled it up, feeling the soft fabric glide up her thighs.

"I thought you didn't want Draco to grow up weak."

She opened the door and Lucius was leaning against the door frame, one arm above his head, deciding now was the time to have the conversation she tried to start on Christmas Eve. "Once upon a time, the idea of raising him how our parents had raised us sounded like the right thing to do."

Lucius' eyes darkened. "We're not as bad-"

"We are. It would not have been the first time we were wrong about our choices, though." Narcissa swallowed and tried to pull up the zipper on the back of her dress but could not get it all the way up. She turned to retrieve her wand from the other dress but Lucius grabbed her waist to stop her from walking away. He pulled the zipper up the rest of the way, fixing other parts of her dress so it laid properly on her body.

"Following a sadistic, powerful, mad man is hardly on the same spectrum as being a strict parent." When he was done smoothing out her dress he stepped away, not wanting to overstep her boundaries as he knew she was still mad at him.

When he released her, she spun around, weighing what she would say next. "But it's on the same spectrum as being a good parent and a bad parent. And I think we're beyond strict. I know Draco and he is not me nor you, continuing with how we have been raising him is only going to back fire." She turned to fully face him, her arms folded in front of her. "I've seen it happening already." Narcissa had a troubled look on her face and when she looked at her husband, he could feel her eyes boring into him. "We're definitely too old to pretend we're not doing _something_ wrong."

Lucius was frowning deeply and had his hands crossed over his chest, subconsciously mimicking her as he thought about what she said. He stared at Narcissa, not knowing how to feel or what to say. It sounded like she was calling them bad parents although she never uttered those exact words. He wanted to be defensive with her, like he would anyone else but when Narcissa said something, he listened before acting. He considered them to be a team, one who kept each other in check as they always corrected each other- like he had with her dress. "I'll need to think about this more."

Narcissa looked up at him, the mint dress in one hand and her wand in the other, slipping into the pocket of her red dress. She had a pleased look on her face and turned away to hide it, but not before he saw it. "I suppose that's fine." He stepped forward and kissed her temple. She looked up at him and while her face was back to being serious, her eyes had a slight twinkle. "I know we didn't turn out terribly- after Voldemort disappeared- but I want him to be better than us. I don't want him to look back at his childhood and feel about you how you feel about Abraxas."

Lucius' jaw flexed at the mention of his father but he did not say anything. Lucius planned on dissecting her words later but for now, he wanted to get off of the subject as soon as possible. "May I join you at dinner later? I know you told me to stay away but I did miss you and Draco on Christmas."

Narcissa gave him a sharp look but the twinkle remained in her eyes. "Hmph, I wonder why." Her voice was dry but she continued so he did not get the chance to speak. "That should be fine, too, IF you stop using Hermione's surname."

Lucius sighed. "Will that get you to forgive me?" Lucius had come to accept tolerating her while she was here, but that did not mean he wanted to interact with her if he could avoid it- especially after the library scene. When she made a scene defending Narcissa at dinner, he found it to be somewhat charming, although if it had been a business prospect that had a high risk of collapsing without merging, he would have been livid.

"That and apologizing to her." Lucius straightened up at that and looked at Narcissa as if she had lost her mind. "I'm not asking you to move mountains but.. she was too shaken up in the library. She's seen you attack Draco before so I wonder what happened that had her so shaken up." Narcissa eyed him menacingly and her voice held an edge she didn't use often. "And don't give me that Malfoy's don't _apologize_ rubbish."

"They don't." Lucius was starting to feel like she was purposefully trying to make him feel like a child at this point as he stared at her, watching her face.

"And yet, you apologize to me. You request my forgiveness. Just because she refused the 'Malfoy' name on paper does not mean she isn't in out care. Isn't eating our food." Narcissa's voice started to raise a little bit then and Lucius wondered again what Narcissa's intentions were. "And it would be easy to apologize to her. She would accept a verbal thanks." Narcissa made a face when she said the last word. Usually she would have demanded Lucius to apologize to Hermione as if he needed to apologize to her or Draco, but she knew that in his mind, she was asking him to move mountains so she would take what she could to have the house hold become less hostile towards each other.

"It would still be humiliating." His voice was void of all emotion, entirely displeased with what was being asked of him. "Are you sure you don't have a soft spot for Hermione?"

Narcissa gave him a hard look. "All of the wizarding world knows we adopted her, we're opening up a muggle orphanage to please a man who thinks a lime green bowler hat is fashion and you want to give me a hard time on easing the tension in our home? Even if I decided to look after Hermione as if she was ours, would that be so bad? It's not like we can hide her in a broom closet so our neighbors don't find out about her- because if we had any neighbors, they would already know from _The Daily Prophet_!"

"Do we have a broom closet?" Lucius was both curious and wanted the conversation to end or be diverted as her points were truths he was not ready to accept- at least not more than he was already willing to accept them. She was pointing out things he had realized- the same things that had caused him to tolerate Hermione until Fudge was out of the picture and she would be sent to St. Mungo's.

"Lucius, come now." Narcissa shook her head and took one of Lucius' hands. "I'm not asking you to do it tonight. Just do it before the holiday is over." She smoothed her hair back before continuing. "Now, if you would like to come to dinner, would you mind escorting me down?"

"Of course." He did not let go of her hand as he guided her to the closet door and held it open with one hand. She appeared calm enough and he decided to bring up the other reason he had come to their bedroom to talk. "After dinner, do you think you could tell me what is going on with you and Andromeda?"

Narcissa gave a small smile as she looked at him and for a fleeting second, he wondered how was he was so lucky to have a beautiful wife. "I'd be more than happy to."

A couple days after Christmas, Narcissa started Hermione on the yellow potions to increase her appetite again. Narcissa noticed Hermione was not eating as well as she should after Christmas and did not want to risk her getting sick from the lack of sustenance. Due to the potion, Hermione had ate almost everything that appeared on her plate, despite the constant clenching and unclenching her stomach did from her nerves, which worsened when Draco looked at her as he had not spoken to her since Christmas Eve. Five days later and neither Harry nor Ron had sent her an owl. She knew they were angry with her but she would have at least expected a letter from Harry angrily demanding her to explain herself.

She was half listening to the conversation Theo and Lucius, who she also had not heard from since Christmas Eve, were having when Hedwig found her way into the dining room and plopped a bright, red howler in front of her. Hermione did not need to flip it over to know it was from Ron who must have either had Molly send him a howler or had Fred, George, or Harry sneak into Hogsmeade to buy one. The room was completely quiet and when the envelope started to smoke, Hedwig flew off. For once Hermione wished she was a bird, despite her fear of heights, so she could fly away, too.

"Cazzo," Blaise picked it up and handed it to her, the movement pulling her from her shock long enough to grab it. "Open it! It will only get worse the longer you delay opening it."

Hermione stood up and opened her mouth to be excused but it was too late. The envelope burst open and she shrieked from surprise.

"_Why did you run off telling Professor McGonagall for? Now, Harry's Firebolt will be stripped and who knowswhat shape it will be in once he gets it back! McGonagall said this would take weeks meaning it may not be ready in time for the game with Ravenclaw! I know we call you the brightest-witch-of-the-age but what makes you think Sirius Black could walk into Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy an International Standard broom? There is nothing wrong with that broom, and if there was- the Malfoy's would have done it. I have a hard time believing you did not think of that before jumping to their defenses after what-_" There was a faint hissing sound that drowned out the howler, but Hermione did not know what it was, as somewhere in the middle of Ron's howler yelling at her, she covered her face with her hands. From the heat on her hands alone, she knew she was a vibrant scarlet just like Narcissa's dress. She did not cry from her embarrassment but she wished desperately that she had Harry's invisibility cloak so she could just disappear.

"Hermione, please sit down." Narcissa's voice was calm but cold and Hermione refused to take her hands off her face let alone meet her gaze. Hermione opened her eyes beneath her fingers and noticed that Lucius was putting his wand away and the howler laid on the floor, it's message unfinished, completely soaked as if a bucket of water had been dumped on it.

Hermione knew she wanted an explanation, so before Narcissa could ask for one, Hermione let it all out in a rush while still covering her face: "Harry's old broom had been crushed by the Whomping Willow in the last quidditch game so he did not have one to play with until Christmas when he received the new Firebolt Broom from someone anonymously. There was no note nor letter indicating who it was from and when we flooed on Christmas, they asked if it was me, which I denied because I did _not_ get him the broom but when I brought up the idea that Sirius Black may have sent it in, they automatically denied it, saying I was over reacting despite the break-in we just had where the F- Gryffindor's portrait was attacked. When they had exited the fire place, I went to try and talk to them further so they could see my reasoning but instead McGonagall was there so I told her about the idea of it being from Sirius- which she agreed with me on." Hermione took a deep breath before finishing as she was not just speaking fast at this point but her voice was getting higher. "So Professor McGonagall confiscated the broom and now they hate me." Hermione's breathing was shallow from talking so fast and Blaise reached over to rub sympathetic circles on her back.

"And when he says you defended us?" Lucius asked this and she looked at him through her fingers. After a moment of holding his gaze she slowly removed her hands from her face so she would not have to repeat what she said in the event she muffled herself.

"When I mentioned it may have been Sirius Black who sent it, Ron turned it around saying if it was anyone it would be-" Hermione cleared her throat and looked down at her plate. Her voice was low when she spoke again. "It would be one of you. Because of the diary." Hermione was unsure what Theo and Blaise knew about the Basilisk or the diary last year so she kept her explanation at that. She was greatly embarrassed by Ron and the scene he caused. A big part of her blamed herself as she felt this was all her fault by saying something to McGonagall but she reminded herself that, as the muggle saying goes, she'd rather be safe than sorry. Hermione hoped Lucius would not ask her why she defended the Malfoys, as she thought she would surely cry having to explain part of the reason why was afraid to leave her room in the summer was due to her being scared one of them would harm her.

Everyone was silent for a while, not knowing what to say until Theo broke the silence. "And you call that prick a friend?"

"Theodore Anthony Knott, do not ever use that language in front of me again." Hermione looked up as Blaise bit his fist trying to stifle his laughter. She hesitantly looked at Draco who had mixed feelings written on his face. She recognized one as disbelief but anther seemed to be gratitude? Or maybe respect? "I'll be sending a letter out to Mrs. Weasley."

Hermione looked at Narcissa, her eyes wide. "Ron is upset with me enough as is-"

"If you think it's acceptable for your friend's to treat you like this, you may want to find new ones." Narcissa's pupils had shrunk so more of her icy blue irises were showing. "And as for the strong accusations that were made, I wonder what his parents are teaching him at home. I would personally like to find out." Narcissa turned away at that moment as she went back to eating her food, intending to close the conversation completely but Lucius spoke up then.

"How do you think Sirius Black would have bought a Firebolt being the most wanted person in all of Great Britain?" For once, Lucius' tone was not patronizing or condescending when talking to her but mildy curious. Lucius sipped on his cup of wine and Hermione became aware the only one not touching their food or drink was her, although Draco was merely pushing his food around his plate.

Hermione frowned as the most obvious answer came to her. "Well, I had ordered Harry's birthday gift during the summer through the owl post so he could have just done that. No human or goblin contact as the shop can withdraw the money from a Gringott's account directly- assuming he still has access to an account or his galleons." Hermione had read that the Blacks were a rich family and assuming that Sirius' parents were rich and there were no other survivors to his immediate family who were unwilling to help him, it was completely possible. "However, if there was a complication to that plan, I imagined he would have stolen a wand by now and used the _imperius_ curse or something similar to have someone buy it. After jinxing it, all he had to do was have it delivered by an owl or two." By the time she stopped speaking everyone was staring at her with shocked faces, except from Lucius who was looking at her even more curiously. She did not like having his full attention at all and she knew she should have been scared of him after he had grabbed her neck but instead it made her even more determined not to collapse under his gaze.

"Hmmm, an unforgivable curse," Another sip of his wine. "You've thought about this before?"

Hermione looked down at her plate as Narcissa rang the bell for the last course, presenting their desert for the evening. "For the past five days. I don't see how someone who has a record like his would mind using an unforgivable curse." Hermione looked at Narcissa with a pleading look. "I haven't talked to Ron about my reasoning yet, I hate asking but please do not bring this up to Mrs. Weasley."

Lucius saw Narcissa about to argue but decided he would reply instead. "I think that's fair. We did not send him the broom so there is no reason to get involved now." Narcissa glared at him but he continued anyway. "If it does happen to be a real Firebolt and it's not jinxed, Draco is going to need one too." Lucius kept his wife's gaze as he said his last sentence. She wanted him to exchange his ways so he decided to feel it out by talking to Hermione and offerig a gift to Draco. It was the best he could do at the moment without making himself sick.

Draco's eyes widened when he looked up at Lucius and he grinned like he had when his father gifted the Slytherin team with the Nimbus 2001 last year. "You're serious?"

Lucius nodded once. "If Potter is going to keep his." Narcissa's jaw would have dropped if she had thought herself to be anything less than a lady. Hermione did not speak as she was afraid Narcissa would over rule Lucius and write to Mrs. Weasley anyway.

Theo groaned. "He's never going to stop now."

Blaise sighed. "We weren't even acquainted last year and I still got a rant from him on the specifications of the Nimbus the team got."

Draco ignored them and decided that while everyone was in a better mood, he would make a bold move of his own. "Just me or everyone on the team?"

Lucius' eyebrows went up. "Just you as you hold the most important position on the team. The seeker decides the game, Draco."

"Not true, every position is important. The seekers just decides when the game _ends..._" Draco then went into a rant about the importance of every position and different plays along with how a broom affects all factors of the game.

Narcissa wanted to bring the conversation back to the previous topic and talk about how wrong Ronald Weasley was but watching Lucius make an effort with Draco stopped her in her tracks. She was having difficulty remembering when the last time Draco looked excited to speak with his father. Narcissa looked at Blaise and Theo, both looked absolutely bored but when she looked at Hermione, she saw that even she was accepting the talk of brooms as a distraction. Her food was untouched but her brown eyes darted back and forth between the two blonde men, trying to keep up.

Narcissa sat back, wine in hand and did not contribute to the conversation, knowing that it was best to leave things be for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Also, college is starting up again so I am sorry in advance if I am unable to update as often as I have been in the few weeks i was on break :(


	16. Year Three: Part V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I don't respond to your review or a part of the review- I swear it is only because I don't want to give away what happens in the future. I appreciate each and every comment made!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Hermione absentmindedly stared out of her bedroom window as she half listened to the music playing in the main suite, one hand stroking Persephone's puffed up breast while the other toyed with the ring on her necklace chain. Hermione had several feet of parchment in front of her, all for Persephone to carry back to Hagrid. The Malfoy library had so many books in it, she had considered using the time-turner in the event she could not get through all of the books regarding trials on magical creatures. Dr. Augsen had explained once that magic use was harder to trace with adult wizards living in the household unless the minor used their wand, due to there being a tracer on it until they turned Seventeen. However, Hermione took the deadline as a challenge and finished going through the last book the manor had this morning, leaving her with the rest of the afternoon and evening to relax before they went back to Hogwarts tomorrow, her only obligation was a session with Dr. Augsen later. She had not replied to Ron but sent Harry a letter, hoping she would at least get him to see her point of view. He had not replied and it hurt Hermione that her friends seemed to put a broom above their friendship but she told herself that they just needed time.

Persephone hooted softly before shaking her head and nudging the parchment with her beak. Hermione stopped petting the owl and started to string up the parchment, knowing the bird had a stubbornly restless personality. "You don't have to deliver these you know. I can hand them to Hagrid Monday." Hermione used two fingers to pet Persephone's back and the owl shook her head again. "Alright." Hermione wrapped the parchment, knowing she would loose the argument again with the owl and tied it to Persephone's feet.

After Persephone flew off, Hermione walked into her closet to retrieve her father's cello, planning to spend the rest of the day practicing before she cleaned it so it was in perfect condition for her return for Easter or Summer. Hermione had not talked to Draco in their last five days at the manor and he had not talked to her, save for simple pleasantries at dinner. A part of her was relieved, telling herself it was easier as she was able to focus on the Hippogriff case and not worry about a would-be complicated friendship. Although she wondered if Lucius' interruption in the library was the reason why he had pushed her away or if he never planned on their friendship extending past that hour. Another part of her, however, was extremely lonely as she holed herself in her room, also wondering if the Draco she saw on Christmas Eve was one she would ever meet again as he was fairly pleasant. Hermione brought her bow to the first string of the cello but heard a tapping on her window. Hermione's heart leapt for a moment, hoping to see Hedwig but instead saw a big dark horned owl that was one and a half times the size of Persephone. Its feathers were so black that even in the cloudy sky that promised more snow, the feathers held a strong, blue hue.

Hermione took the note that the owl had and read the fine calligraphy on it;

_Mr. Malfoy requests the pleasure of your company for tea on Saturday, the second of January at one o'clock in the small drawing room. P.M.R.S.V.P._

Today? Hermione was about to laugh when the owl nipped her, but unlike Persephone and Hedwig who gave love bites, this owl broke skin. "Auuggh!" Hermione took a step back and looked at the parchment once more. Magically, an additional message had appeared;

_Be careful of Posideon. He's known to bite._

_-Lucius Abraxas Malfoy._

Hermione inhaled deeply through her nose. Hermione grabbed one of the quills she bought from Borkin and Burkes off of her desk and crossed out Lucius' note. Hermione was not just over him, but whatever games he tried playing with her. His attitude seemed to have changed since Christmas but she refused to think anything of it. Lucius Malfoy had only ever proved to her he was as evil as they came and had no redeeming qualities. She smiled wickedly as she thought of what to reply with and in her best imitation of what he wrote, she replied with the following:

_I regret to inform you that I have a previous engagement (a breakdown if you_ must_ know the details) scheduled for that exact time and will prevent me from accepting tea with Mr. Malfoy on Saturday, the second of January at one o'clock._

_Pardon the blood, Posideon acts quicker than I can read._

_-H.J.G._

Hermione thought about writing 'mud' instead of 'blood', but decided against it as he was sure to show Narcissa. There was a fine like between sassy and rude and she did not want Narcissa to see her cross it. Hermione used her initials to sign the note like he signed the one he sent her for her birthday, not caring that a second drop of blood had landed on to the parchment. She tossed the owl a treat, and quickly tied the note to his foot while it was distracted in case he wanted to bite her again.

While she was wrapping her finger after she had washed the wound, another owl came back, except it was the small Scops owl Narcissa often used to send Hermione letters around the manor.

_Hermione,_

_Please join us for tea this evening in the small drawing room at one. It would be nice to see you any other time of day other than dinner and I believe a chat over a steaming cup would be wonderful._

_If there is a tea of your preference, please include it in your reply._

_Sincerely,_

_Narcissa Midase Malfoy._

Hermione let out a puff of air. Narcissa _knew_ she would come if she asked and while Hermione was slightly annoyed at the manipulation, she found herself not minding it so much knowing she was not going to be alone with Lucius. Hermione looked at her watch after sending her reply and saw she had fifteen minutes to get ready.

Hermione spent ten minutes fighting her hair into a freshly brushed, messy bun before spending the last five minutes taking her time getting to the drawing room. While she was on her way down, she noticed that Draco, Theo and Blaise were having a snowball fight outside. The sight stopped her in her tracks on the stairs as it brought back a memory of her and her parents making snow angels in the park by her childhood home. Her heart clenched and her mood sank as tears sprung to her eyes but she did not allow herself to become overwhelmed. Dr. Augsen had been extra tentative with her visits over the holiday, which was fair as Hermione was more of a mess than usual. Hermione knew she was a minefield and the only reason she had found herself to be sane for half of the holiday was the fact she was able to do research for Buckbeak's trial. It provided her with a distraction that lasted all day and she hoped

When Hermione got to the drawing room, Narcissa and Lucius were sitting at a round table, quietly chatting. Hermione padded over, already self conscious of her presence, and sat across from Lucius at the round table. "Good afternoon," She said more to Narcissa than to Lucius.

"Good afternoon, Hermione." The sound of Lucius saying her first name made her want to flinch in distaste to spite him, but she controlled herself. When Hermione acknowledge him again, he continued. "I'm happy you were able to reschedule your breakdown."

Narcissa never looked away from Hemione, but Hermione heard the slap under the table to Lucius' leg. Hermione then decided to look at him with a fake grin. "Only for Narcissa."

Lucius' slid his eyes back to Narcissa. "It's not fair she only respects you."

Narcissa raised an eyebrow as she looked at her husband. "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." Her tone seemed a if it were asking him what he really expected with how he had treated Hermione.

Hermione raised both of her eyebrows in surprise. "I always thought that was a muggle saying."

"As Theo stated, muggles have a way of taking what's ours and running with it." Lucius cleared his throat and fixed his tone not to sound as so condescending when Narcissa gave him another look. "The saying is an old Italian proverb that was often used by a famous spell caster named Barnabus Finkley." Hermione nodded as she took in the small fact, unsure of what to say.

Narcissa stood. "I'll go get the tea."

Hermione kept her eyes on Narcissa until she had left the room so she would not have to look at Lucius. Hermione felt her wand softly hum in time with her heart beat when she allowed her eyes to stare at the man in front of her. For his age he did look good as the only wrinkles in sight being tiny laugh lines. She thought back to his laugh in the library, and in her dreams, deciding she didn't like the sound at all. It was the opposite of Narcissa's and the more she stared at him the more disgusted she became.

"Why am I here?"

"It's rude to stare."

They spoke at the same time and both Lucius and Hermione took a deep breath as they resumed staring each other down. Hermione, being the stubborn girl she was, was determined not to break Lucius' gaze unless he did first. He opened his mouth to speak but Narcissa had came back with a tray of tea. When she set the tray down, Lucius looked away first, causing Hermione's chin to briefly tilt up with pride until she saw that Narcissa was wearing her winter robes as if she were heading out.

"You're not going to stay and have tea?" Hermione's voice sounded a little squeaky and it was her turn to she clear her throat.

Narcissa smiled as she set out the saucers and tea cups along with a two bowls, one with scones and the other with sandwiches. "No, I have a few things to wrap up at the Ministry concerning the orphanage. Now," Narcissa put a hand on each of their shoulders. She looked at Lucius first. "You are to state your peace, _calmly_." When he nodded she looked at Hermione. "And _you_, are to listen- just as calmly. Neither of you are to move from your seats until your business is done or Dr. Augsen comes for your session." Hermione stared at Narcissa, anxiety freezing her chest in place as she listened to Narcissa's words. "Do I make myself clear?"

Hermione was so busy staring at Narcissa she had forgotten to reply. "Yes, ma'am." She thought she saw Narcissa's pupils engulf her eyes after she agreed but Hermione happened to blink while when it happened and Narcissa turned back to Lucius. "I'll see you both at dinner." Again, Hermione watched Narcissa leave, refusing to look at Lucius until she had to.

Lucius and Hermione resumed their staring contest for the next few minutes until Lucius grew tired of it again. When he rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak though, she cut him off. "How do you like your tea?" Her tone was short as she reached for the tea pot and poured tea into her cup, then his. Hermione was not ready for them to talk about whatever Narcissa wanted them to talk about so she decided to do what her parents would have expected her to do with unpoured tea, which was to serve it while making small talk. Hermione focused on pouring slowly, letting the aroma fill the air between them. "The tea set- is it a family heirloom?" Hermione knew the tea set was pretty to someone but she actually found it to be too garish for her liking.

The tea set was unlike one she had ever seen before; the set was black but the handle was the head and neck of an albino peacock while the other side of the cup had the white feathers, decorated in deep rainbow, ringlets. The tea pot was a bigger version of it, with red jewels for eyes. "Yes and no. It's a family heirloom but one that I had bought from the family." Lucius took a sip of his tea straight, no cream or sugar. The same way she drank most tea.

Hermione realized this and was hesitant to drink from hers now, in case he noticed the lack of ingredients in her drink. She didn't want to acknowledge they had similarities so she focused on the peacock tea set instead, and how _Lucius_ was actually the one to pick something so _feminine_ out. Hermione looked back up at him again, one corner of her mouth curled upward as if it were to turn into a smirk. "Did you pick out the albino peacocks in the garden then?"

He raised an eyebrow at her almost smirk, wondering what was behind it. "I did."

"How absurd." Hermione lifted her tea cup to her face and whispered the insult into it before taking a sip.

Lucius' nostrils briefly flared but he had taken a calming draught beforehand so his anger was squelched immediately. He wondered if Narcissa would believe him if he told her how Hermione was acting as it was usually him who was insulting over tea. "Hermione, we live in the same household now. We eat dinner everyday that you are here together. Do you not think it's childish that we-" he took a deep breath, "do not know anything each other yet we're so hostile when we do talk to each other?" He looked at her and while her mouth had dropped into a perfect 'O', her face was red letting on she was already angry. When Hermione went to comment on how it was his fault for being a terrible human being, her mouth audibly snapped shut. He leaned back and a cocky smirk made its way on to his face, as he knew something she didn't. "I suggest whatever you say next, do it calmly as Narcissa's enchantment won't allow you to speak otherwise." The smirk he had on his face was the same one Draco made and she knew since first year it was the Malfoy equivalent of a rattlesnake rattling it's tail. She wanted to ask what he meant by 'Narcissa's enchantment' but she realized she didn't shut her mouth on her own volition as she had intended to speak. "If you do not believe me, try to stand."

Hermione stuck out her chin and sipped the tea. She had no intention to stand but as the seconds ticked on, Lucius' smirk grew and his eyes twinkled with amusement. When it hit Hermione he may not be playing her for a fool, she slid the chair away from the table and tried to stand, putting her hands on the arm rests of the chair.

Her body did not leave the seat.

Hermione dropped her hands and tried to stand, hoping gravity would allow the chair to fall to the ground but to no avail, the seat did not budge. She flopped back into the chair and ground her teeth together. Angry tears prickled as she felt betrayed by the one person she even had a smidgen of trust for in the manor. Tricking her into having tea with Lucius was forgivable but enchanting her seat so she was forced to stay... She wanted to scream and insult Lucius as he was the only thing she felt she could take her anger out on, but it was as if her jaw was wired shut. '_Calmly_' Narcissa said. The realization that she couldn't speak unless it was in a calm manner made the betrayal worse as the seat was not the only thing enchanted, but_ she _was. _Lucius already said that though didn't he?_

"It's how we do things here. Do not take it personally as she would not have done it to you without a good cause." Lucius pursed his lips then moved to pour tea into his cup. "More tea?" He didn't wait for her to answer as he poured into her half empty cup.

Hermione felt one angry tear fall. With all that had happened, she would have never imagined Lucius offering her slight words of comfort and pouring tea for her. It actually made her more angry. It was obvious he had been in this position before and knew how to get out of it as he was cool as a cucumber while he poured the tea. She never saw him so calm and Hermione forced herself to breath through her nose several times to calm down. "Why?"

Lucius sat back in his chair and picked up a Cherry scone in one hand, tea in the other. The glint had disappeared in his eye as he took a small bite of the scone. "Why are you having tea with me?"

"Yes, _Mr. Malfoy_." Sarcasm dripped off of his name as Hermione tried to maintain her anger so her jaw would not lock up again.

Lucius took another bite of his scone and washed it down with the tea before replying as he weighed how he should respond. _The things I do for Narcissa._ "You can call me Lucius." Hermione stared at the blonde man, refusing to say anything more and he took it as a queue to keep talking. "We're having tea because I owe you an apology."

"An apology?" She repeated it back to him slowly, as if she wanted to make sure he heard himself right.

Lucius looked back at her, knowing she had no intention of making this easy for him. He knew she was going to press all of his buttons like a damn cat and he hoped the strong dose of the calming draught kept his anger at bay as they would surely be there until Andromeda freed them it didn't- and she was not due to be at the manor for another four hours. "Yes."

"So Narcissa is forcing you-"

"She-" This time it was Lucius' jaw that shut. He took another deep breath and did not speak until his jaw completely loosened. "No. I am doing this on my own volition, _although_," He emphasized the word as he saw she was going to interrupt him again. "She has been a great influence on me doing so. With that being said, I am sorry about-" Another deep breath, this time through his nose. "The library." He looked down at the bowl of scones in front of him, his lips in a fine line. His was apologizing on his own volition, as this is how he had to make things right with Narcissa, but even though he would do it a second time if his wife asked, it made him feel ashamed that it was the truth. He could practically hear his father rolling in his grave and it made his skin crawl with what he thought Abraxas would do if he was alive. He was raised to think that Hermione should be acting as a foot stool for his feet, not treating her as a _human_ and having tea with her.

She was quiet for a few minutes, partially because it physically hurt to try to speak with her jaw locked, and partially because she wanted him to fully process what he said. "And?" Her hands were crossed over her chest and from how clipped her voice was, he guessed that was the most she could manage. A part of him wondered how far her stubbornness went. The rest of him was disgruntled that he finally reached the point where she was going to aggravate him to no end, causing his own temper to flare beneath the calm waves of the calming draught.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked back at her, lacing his fingers together over his torso, mimicking her stance in his own way. "And for calling you a mudblood."

"And?" Her eyes never left her face as she watched him speak.

Lucius had to think for a moment but could not really think of what else he may have needed to apologize for. "And for being rude on the first dinner we had together."

"What. Else?" Hermione felt her jaw ache from how tight Narcissa's enchantment held it together.

Lucius' natural frown deepened. "I'm not sure what else there is to apologize for unless you want me to start listing specific events." He picked up his scone from his tea saucer to finish it off. He poured himself some more tea just so he had something to do as she calmed herself down enough for her to speak. He hated that he had to have this conversation with her but he told himself he had survived much worse.

Hermione brought one hand up to grip the ring on her necklace, allowing the pain of the spikes to distract her temporarily from her anger, which in turn allowed her jaw to loosen. She wiggled her jaw before speaking as it had started to ache, even when freed from the enchantment. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to- though you did forget to apologize for the basilik nearly killing me last year as I was one of the students who was petrified." Lucius' eyebrows went up, the draught causing him to forget about the mask he usually wore. It was information he already knew but had completely forgotten about. "You should be apologizing to Mr. And Mrs. Weasley for nearly killing Ginny. You should be apologizing to Draco for beating him and Hagrid for-"

He didn't allow her to finish. "STOP!" She had worked both of them up to the point where they could not speak but Lucius was better at recovering his emotions by default thanks to the calming draught coursing through his system. "For your information, Miss Gr-_Hermione_, we had apologized to Molly Weasley when we went to Diagon Alley and I have already talked to Draco." Both were true statements although Molly had not taken the apology well- which made their shopping in Diagon Alley even more tense. Molly was polite but very short in accepting the apology. He understood why as there really is no proper way to apologize for nearly having someone's child killed nor was his part of the apology filled with as much effort on his part as Narcissa would have liked as he gave her the excuse of _'Malfoy's don't apologize'_ along with pointing out the Weasley's family history. The talk with Draco... had been interesting. It ended up leaving Draco more confused and cautious than anything else. It frustrated and angered Lucius that Draco did not welcome his efforts with open arms but Narcissa asked him to put himself in Draco's shoes and imagine Abraxas giving him the same talk. Lucius understood the reaction after that, even though it left him unsettled that his wife kept putting him on the same level as Abraxas.

"What?" Lucius was pulled from his own thoughts as he looked at a floored Hermione.

"I'm not a fan of repeating myself." He grabbed another scone then pushed the bowl closer to her. "You should try one, Narcissa made them herself."

Hermione looked at the scones briefly then looked back up at him, letting go of the ring so her arms were crossed again. "I don't believe you."

"How insulting," Lucius had adopted a bored drawl in his voice. It was another behavior she noticed that Draco learned from his father. Lucius stated what he needed to and now it was Hermione's turn to process what he said or else the enchantment would not lift. "Although I suppose you could ask them yourself."

Hermione became unsettled with the new information. She wanted to villanize Lucius for all the things he did in the few years she knew of him. She could be friendly with Narcissa, even Draco if he made up his mind to be friendly himself but the thought of being on friendly terms with Lucius was not something she wanted to even fathom. Her friends would never understand. "Ron would have told me if you had apologized."

"The same Ron who sent you a howler for a broomstick?" His sneer was back on his face but she knew it was not directed entirely at her. "They have the audacity to cut you off at a time when you're more vulnerable than usual- and after you saved your friend from falling off his last _broomstick_?"

Hermione didn't want to hear Lucius' words anymore or think about how he learned about her saving Harry in the first quidditch game of the season. She told herself Lucius was trying to get into her head when he was simply stating the facts. "Don't say it like that!" Hermione felt her cheeks become wet as tears started to fall. She felt herself start to feel lonely and isolated again, the walls of of the two emotions crushing her. Narcissa's words intruded her current thoughts along with Lucius' words: _If you think it's acceptable for your friend's to treat you like this, you may want to find new ones._

Hermione couldn't bear having to start over from the beginning with anyone else. She reminded herself that she and her friends would make up, as they always had. She told herself that saving Harry wasn't a big deal, they had saved her life in first year from the troll and she was returning the favor. After they locked you in the bathroom with it. Hermione gripped her head, willing herself to shut down the opposing thoughts, especially since they were no longer Narcissa's or Lucius' voice, but her own. _You're always saving them somehow, but what have they done for you?_

Hermione felt a jolt of shock at where her thoughts had taken her. It was almost the same shock that scared her out of her bathtub on Christmas day. She felt terrible for thinking so low of her friends. They cared for her, let her know she was their sister and had always tried to be there for her, even when they didn't exactly know how. They were mad right now, but she just knew they wouldn't stay mad.

Lucius stayed there watching Hermione, unsure of what to do. He needed her to accept his words to satisfy Narcissa but he wasn't the best with children. Even with adults in general, he spent his life tearing them down rather than building them up. When he needed something from others, instead of buttering them up, he offered something they wanted or did not have- it was always a business trade as he had what people wanted or the means to require it. It's what had saved him many times with Voldemort in the past as he never was good at grovelling.

Feeling as if he had no other options but resort to offering something, Lucius pulled out his wand and summoned a back pack. One that he had enchanted with a lightweight charm on it along with a shrinking charm so when Hermione put her books in it, it did not look like she had half of the Hogwarts library on her back. He placed it on the chair between them that was previously occupied by Narcissa. Hermione completely snapped out of the rabbit hole she fell into and looked at the bag. "Wha-"

"A peace offering. Draco mentioned your bag was barely being held together."

A part of her wanted to know what else Draco paid attention to but she was upset Lucius had made her doubt her friends. "You think I will forgive you if I accept this bag? As a bribe?" Her voice was full of disbelief and her pale cheeks started to fill with color again.

"Please try to keep up, Miss- _Hermione_." Lucius' eyes twitched with desire to narrow into slits. He swallowed the tension that started to build in his jaw. "It's a peace offering, a start to a peaceful," He inhaled deeply as he could practically hear Abraxas' carcass rolling six feet under. He said the next word when exhaling, "Relationship."

She stayed silent for a very long time and he knew it was due to Narcissa's enchantment as she tried to speak three times but only ended up banging a fist on the table. When she lifted her hand a fourth time he spoke. "If you break my tea set, I'll be livid." It was the wrong thing to say as her hand pulled behind her to slap the tea pot off the table. He had barely enough time to pull out his wand and vanish the pot, leaving her to knock the scones off the table. "A child," he quickly vanished the two tea cups to the kitchen in the event she continued being petty and targeted them next. "A complete and utter child." His anger simmered again and he felt his hand twitch._ I ought to throttle her._ Lucius wanted to hit something himself, but reminded himself that he was trying to do better.

"A real peace offering," Hermione had resorted to massaging the area around her jaw as it was now completely aching. "Would be calling off the charges on the hippogriff."

Lucius looked at her and cocked his head to the side. He had a second to process what she said before his anger broke through the effects of the calming draught, completely locking up his own jaw.  
\-----------------------------  
"Do you really think this will work?" It was only Narcissa and Andromeda, under the guise of Dr. Augsen, in the Ministry's lift which gave them a free window to talk without the worry of someone over hearing them.

Dr. Augsen looked over at her sister. "My main job here is to study the wizarding population so I may act like an adviser of sorts. If there is one thing the wizarding population cares about? It's quidditch." Narcissa looked over at her sister with a questioning look only to see Dr. Augsen was laughing at her own joke. "The other thing they care about after that is what their Minister is doing."

Narcissa chuckled herself, then shifted the wine bottle in her hands. "Lucius' plan would have worked you know. Severly maim the Minister so he was no longer fit for office."

"Yes, it would have but while you didn't tell me how it was going to be done, you still ended up agreeing that it was going to be easily traced back to you and him." Lucius wanted to get the Minister into their maze and let the creatures have a minute or two before pulling him out. However, Narcissa knew all the creatures in the maze were illegal to own, and if Fudge had actually survived being in the maze for a minute or two, his silence was not guaranteed. Especially if what Dr. Augsen said about him is true in regards to how close he is to Rita Skeeter. "Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't just try to bribe all of his essential and influential supporters into overthrowing Fudge. A Czar in muggle Russia was overthrown in three months that way."

Narcissa smiled at her sister. "Usually he would have, " _or he would have killed him,_ "but this has become quite personal for Lucius and he wants it done... Right. He wants Fudge to suffer." Narcissa shifted the weight of the wine bottle in her hands as it dug into her forearm.

"Hmpf." Dr. Augsen did not say anything more and lifted her chin as the lift came to a slow stop on the last floor. She was surprised to hear from her sister shortly before the New Year to hear that Lucius had agreed to her plan and even hinted that he may have liked hers better. Still, she held a lot of resentment for her brother-in-law and blamed him for her involvement with Voldemort.

"Speaking of Lucius though, would you mind heading to the manor a bit earlier today?" Narcissa pretended to inspect her cuticles over the wine bottle she held. "I have Lucius and Hermione doing a bit of a, ah, trust exercise and they may-"

"You _what_? What did you do?" Dr. Augsen lowered her voice to a hiss as the doors opened. Neither woman spoke as they stepped out and the next group of people stepped in. After the doors of the lift closed, Narcissa replied in a whisper.

"Remember when you and Bella had argued over who would be the one to gather the mandrake roots and mother made you two sit in the pouring rain?"

Dr. Augsen's eyes widened by a full millimeters before her face went blank again. "When she made you sit us out there and we could not talk if our words came from our anger? You did not."

"I did- Somewhat. They can still speak when angry, but they have to be calm and it may hurt a little." Narcissa pursed her lips in thought. "I couldn't think of any other way to get them to have a civilized conversation willingly, but I don't think it would be beneficial for them to sit there for four hours if they can't work past their differences in the first hour or so." She started slowly walking to the Minister's office and Dr. Augsen followed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Narcissa kept her nose high, and her voice low. Appearances, as bothersome as she found them, were important as the Malfoys and Blacks were known to be very private families. She did not want her sister's co-workers to know she was close to Dr. Augsen or Andromeda, if they knew the truth of the healer's identity.

"I don't know if that should have been done." Dr. Augsen stopped pinching the bridge of her nose but under her glasses, there was a definite red spot from where the skin was pinched.

"It will be fine." The women walked the rest of the way to Minister Fudge's office together in what was primarily silence. They only spoke when others were around to eavesdrop, and they kept it at polite small talk not to make anyone suspicious about why they were together.

Dr. Augsen approached the new secretary's desk. The woman was older than the last but had the same type of air and look about her; She wore her hair in voluminous curls and the shirt beneath her blazer sank a little too low but showed just enough cleavage to still pass for professional. Her twill skirt could have been mistaken for a pencil skirt it was so tight and the woman had an attitude that said she was complacent to the point she no longer asked questions when it was someone above her demanding assistance.

"Good afternoon, Cheryl." Cheryl, the new secretary, looked up and gave a would-be bright smile if she didn't smoke half a pack a day.

"Hello, Aquila. Dropping off more files?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow as she watched Andromeda hand over the newest reports on Hermione. She knew the Ministry had given the Andromeda another identity as she was in an important position but how many of her coworkers did not know? Narcissa made a note to ask Andromeda about it another time but was thankful that she was able to walk around with her sister at the Ministry without anyone asking questions about their past- not that anyone would be bold enough to question a Malfoy. Or a Black.

Narcissa started her part of the act by clearing her throat, rudely interrupting the pleasantries being exchanged. Dr. Augsen gave Cheryl a funny look as Narcissa could not see it before turning around to leave. "I'll be heading back to my office as I have business to attend to." She took a step over and leaned into Narcissa. "I'll see if I can head over to the Manor early though to check on things." Narcissa would have smiled to show gratitude if she wasn't staring down the secretary, she knew Andromeda was going to head over to the manor early even though she had tried to make it sound as if it was going to be impossible.

"I have an appointment with the Minister today." Narcissa walked up to the desk and waited for the secretary to get up and announce her arrival. However, the secretary's smile faltered as she ruffled through the parchments on her desk. "May I have your name, please?"

Narcissa made a sound that was almost like a scoff when Cheryl finally located the parchment. It was a list of the visitors Fudge were to see today. She hadn't made an appointment as she knew there would be no use due to Fudge only meeting people twice a month. If she had tried to set an appointment, the gala would have already passed and they would have to come up with another way to get fudge out of office. "You don't know my name?" Narcissa slammed the paper on to the desk, leaning on to the hand to pin it before Cheryl could check the list and not see Narcissa's name listed. "What kind of circus is being run here?"

Cheryl jumped back, intimidated by the sudden action, her smile was gone. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy but per protocol, I have to verify your identity."

Narcissa sneered as she removed her hand, knowing her name was now on the paper. "I checked in with the front desk, who verified my identity by my wand, I walked past the revealing mist that hideous fountain in the main entrance gives off and you still question me when you know my name?" Narcissa glared at the secretary, refusing to give her name until Cheryl finally gave in and glanced down at the paper. Seeing Narcissa's name, Cheryl got up and slipped into the Minister's office without looking back at Narcissa again.

When the door opened again, Minister Fudge was right behind a now red-faced Cheryl. Narcissa gave a sweet smile as Fudge eyed her curiously. "Come in, Narcissa." Narcissa flipped her hair over her shoulder as she walked into the office. She quickly glanced around, and noted it looked bare compared to her husband's study. As Fudge passed the guest chair, he gestured for her to sit and her nose gave the smallest of twitches as she remembered what Andromeda said she walked in on when he had a meeting with Rita Skeeter. Thankfully, there was a respectable distance between the chair and the opposite end of his desk where he chose to sit, so she was able to cast a quick but silent scourgify charm on the seat before he turned around.

"Thank you for meeting with me today, Minister Fudge." Narcissa pulled off her robes as she sat and revealed herself to be in a dress that was as close to lime green as she was willing to get. Between the very low beateu neckline and the tight empire waistline, her breasts alone became a huge tease to anyone who looked at her but she made sure the satin dress hugged her child-bearing curves all the way down to her knees.

The results were immediate when Fudge looked at her and his eyes went over her chest, down to her legs then back up her legs, paused at her chest, then struggled to look her in the eyes. Her skin crawled but she kept the smile on her face as she needed to gain the Minister's trust until their plan could come into effect. "The pleasure is mine, Narcissa. How may I help you? It seems my secretary failed to mention that you were the last person I needed to see today and therefore never provided a reason on why you're here." There was annoyance in his tone as he spoke of his help but she could physically see him trying to fight the urge to look lower than her neck.

Narcissa made a point to frown. "I see." Narcissa placed the bottle on the desk and handed Fudge a silver envelope. When flipped over, it had the Malfoy crest in black stamped in wax. "The invitation to the gala we will be having in the summer. It'll be to help fund raise for the orphanage we will be opening and it will be where we plan to speak publicly about our views on muggle borns."

"Hand delivered by the lady of the house hold herself?" Fudge raised his eyebrows as he flipped the invitation in his hand.

"You stopped coming by the manor and I didn't want you to think you were unwelcome." Narcissa bit the inside of her cheek as she shifted to cross her legs, earning a glance down at her legs from him. She hated putting herself on display but a rat had to be lured into its trap somehow. "Plus, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to give a speech when at the gala? As having us take Hermione in was something you had suggested, and it would give great publicity if the Ministry was seen to be involved with something so wholesome." She placed one hand over the other and tried to keep an nonchalant look on her face. She would have tried for innocence but they both knew the Malfoys were anything but.

Fudge had used a letter opener to create an even slash on the top of the letter and pulled the black card out. He looked over the top of it at Narcissa. "And what's in it for me?"

She wanted to sigh as they reached the part of the conversation she was dreading. "What would our Minister like? A donation to the Ministry? To the Wizgamont? Or perhaps to a project you will be working on?" Narcissa had hope Fudge would just accept money but knew there was a great chance he wouldn't. Unfortunately she was right.

His eyes raked her body and her nails dug into her palms at the disrespect. _If he tried this thirteen years ago-_

"I want the orphanage to be a cover for another business." Fudge leaned back into his chair and Narcissa blinked. She could not remember the last time she had been caught off guard but knew the last time was when Voldemort had been her master. "Why do you look surprised, Narcissa? We know you had a wizard wedding and your vows are more than a simple binding. You weren't going to offer anything else were you?" He had a nasty smile as he eyed her chest.

Narcissa's hands itched and twitched as her magic came to life between her hands. Even if her body was something that could be offered, she wouldn't have even considered it. The way she presented herself today was simply to gain his attention and let him be more inclined to do what she had asked. _ I could kill him. A simple rag doll spell and I could press my thumbs slowly into his eye sockets and he'd feel every pound of pressure without even being able to scream._ Narcissa's hand shifted palm up, gathering up the magic to cast the spell she was already aiming to his chest but she caught sight of herself in some magical artifact that was slowly spinning on Fudge's desk. It distracted her as she was the only bright thing on her side of the desk and she caught sight of her face. Her eyes immediately focused in on the diamond shape of her face, her small ears and high cheek bones before anything else- all features she passed to Draco. _My Dragon._

Narcissa turned her palm over, letting her magic cancel out. She never lost control, that was what Lucius did. She realized then the hate she harbored for Fudge was great and she had to do everything she could to get him out of power as killing him, even subtly was too risky.. The turmoil he was creating was even causing Andromeda to act and she was the calmest of the three Black sisters. "That would have been silly of me. I doubt Lucius would like me throwing myself at you like I'm sure other women do on the daily." She stared at her reflection, not meeting Fudge's eyes as she was concerned she'd lose control of her anger again. _Flattery. He lives to be flattered._ "What kind of business do you have in mind, Minister?" She looked up at him finally and he was looking at her curiously. "Or should I inform Lucius to set up a meeting as this is business that should be handled by men?" She tried to sound like she was not trying to be sarcastic as she put a smile back on her face but it was difficult. She did not respect the man one bit.

"Hmm." He stroked one end of his mustache as he looked her up and down again. "Yes, have Lucius owl me." He reached for the wine bottle and read the label on it.

"It's from our wine cellar. I'm sure Mrs. Fudge would enjoy it greatly." Narcissa made a point of standing and pulled her robes around her, feeling she would not be covered up quick enough. "I hope you don't mind our meeting being short, I really did just come to invite you to the gala and I should start dinner soon." It was a lie as Crewe prepared all of their meals, but in order for Fudge to trust her she found the need to try and fit into his idea of a proper wife.

He nodded and stood to walk her to the door. "Of course not, a woman needs to take care of her family." He opened the door with one hand and tried to place the other on the small of her back but she turned to face him so he did not have the chance.

She felt the pressure of her magic pressing into her palm but she would not give in to it again. She gave a tiny bow of her head as she spoke, "Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to meet with me, Minister."

He gave a terse nod and straightened his back for anyone who may have been looking. "Anytime, Mrs. Malfoy."

She quickly left his office, not allowing him a second chance to touch her. The meeting went as well as it could but she wondered what business the Minister would need a cover for. Fudge was despicable and conniving but he always kept any business attention on the Ministry- or on the Malfoys. Narcissa took a deep breath when she got into the lift. She wondered if Lucius and Hermione were able to come to an understanding and hoped that when she got home, the manor was still in one piece.  
\-----------------------------  
Hermione was on all fours, determined to crawl up the staircase. After she tried to get him to pull the case with the hippogriff, he wasn't able to speak but when he finally did, he tried giving her excuses on why he couldn't. She refused to sit there and listen to what she assumed to be lies and tried to get away from him. Hermione wanted as much space between her and Lucius as possible but due to the chair that was still on her back, it made it incredibly difficult to move around. Even on all fours, she was still having a difficult time going up the stairs as the ornate crest rail of the chair kept hitting the same stairs she was trying to crawl up.

Lucius however, was at the bottom of the stairs, practically crying from how hard he was laughing. "You have absolutely no idea how _ridiculous_ you look."

"Shove off!" Hermione wanted to yell instead of hiss but she realized that as long as her words came out calm enough, she was still able to speak. Hermione's frustration was starting to give way as she started to picture how idiotic she looked climbing up the stairs. Even if she wanted to return down the stairs, she couldn't as it would be much trickier than going up the stairs.

Not paying as much attention as reason started to slip though, the crest rail bumped into another stair above her head and Lucius doubled over in his seat from laughter. "I've never met anyone more- more stubborn!" His laugh was very unlike the one in her dream and the library which had initially fueled her anger even more. It made her realize that the one in the library was fake, and was used to intimidate foes. This laugh however was pure and _contagious_. She tried to focus on her anger and humiliation so her resolve to get to her room would not weaken but even she had to admit that a Lucius this open wasn't the terrible Lucius she had come to know.

Still, she wanted to get to the top of the stairs before anyone else saw her. Namely-

"Granger?"

Hermione sighed, not knowing if she should finally laugh or cry. She planted both hands on the stair in front of her and stepped to the side to see Draco, Theo and Blaise at the bottom of the stairs looking up her. His usually pale nose and cheeks were rosy from the cold outside. She imagined Jack Frost, if he was real, would have looked similar to how Draco looked now. "Yes, Malfoy?" She didn't care to specify which Malfoy as she knew Lucius was too deep into his laughing fit to speak. She herself would have laughed at Draco's face as he was in complete shock at the scene in front of him. Theo started to laugh and Blaise turned away, shoulders shaking as he bit his fist to stop from laughing out loud.

"What are you doing?" Even upside down, she could see that Draco was completely and utterly confused as he glanced between his father and her.

A chuckle escaped her lips then, which was a mistake. Once she let out that small sliver of laughter, she was unable to stop herself and soon she was struggling to maintain balance as her arms and legs started to shake. "I- I- Narcis-" She tried to speak but in her position, even breathing was becoming a task. Soon after, Blaise could no longer stop his laughter which caused an uncertain Draco to slowly join in. They all enjoyed laughing at the scene they were in until Hermione's chair shifted, then fell off, clattering down the stairs.

The laughter stopped for a moment and Hermione locked eyes with Lucius. They were silent for a second, then they both went into another fit of laughter, this time Hermione was able to roll away from everyone on the stairs. _Barmy. I've gone absolutely mad._ One tear slid out of her eye and she wiped away at it. Trying to remember the last time she laughed like this.

When she remembered, she found her laugh dying as it was last year with Harry and Ron she laughed this hard. The memory of how different things were for them just twelve months ago was sobering and she once again hoped she had not lost her friendship. She realized she would do nearly anything to gain their trust back, even if it meant she had to do their homework for the rest of the year or something similar. She looked at Draco who was looking back at her, uncertain of what he just witnessed but still laughing softly. Hermione looked away from him, fanning herself to cool her cheeks from laughing so hard. She thought briefly she wouldn't have minded being friends with _him_ if he was as kind as he was Christmas Eve or any other time he was not jeering and insulting her pedigree. The thought made her feel guilty like she was betraying her best friends but she reminded herself that she didn't even know if she had best friends right now. Hermione hated the back and forth thoughts in her mind and sat back on the stairs, completely lost in her head again.

Lucius laugh was just starting to die when Dr. Augsen burst into the foyer. She looked at Lucius who was still trying to regain control of normal breathing and looked at Hermione who looked like the definition of 'depressed.' "What is going on here?"

Lucius gave one last sigh and stood up, Andromeda completely ruining his light-hearted mood. "You're early Dr. Augsen."

"Mrs. Malfoy asked me to come to the manor earlier than expected." She did not bother hiding her annoyance and she nodded at Draco as she past him to climb up the stairs. She briefly paused to look at the chair by the bottom of the stairs, but did not think much of it. She stopped in front of Hermione and held out a hand to help her up. "Shall we start today's session?"

Hermione nodded and used Dr. Augsen's hand to pull herself up. Hermione found everyone to be a bit to quite after they were all so loud and wanted to back to her room as soon as possible, as the silence made her anxious. Before turning the corner she glanced back to see Lucius had already left the room and the boys were starting towards the stairs themselves change out of their now wet clothes.

Again, she wondered if her and Draco could be friends and she found her self hoping that one day, despite what happens between her, Harry and Ron, they could.


	17. Year Three: Part VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR TW: Another suicide attempt (I'm hoping this will be the last one), depression and dissociation.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

They had been back at Hogwarts for a month, but Harry and Ron still refused to say more than a hello to Hermione. Hermione refused to apologize for her actions as she believed she was acting for the best, although she did apologize for how the situation made them feel. Harry knew she meant well but that did not stop him from being angry with her. Ron, between Scabbers and the Firebolt, was completely cross with Hermione and ignored her more than Harry did. She started to avoid the common room, secluding herself in the Library or going to Hagrid's hut to discuss the case. Neither boy looked for her and neither helped her with Buckbeak's trial. Hermione still kept an eye on Harry when they would share classes and discreetly followed him to the ones she didn't share with him.

Ravenclaw and Slytherin played their first week back, with Slytherin having a narrow win. Hermione sent Crookshanks to Draco that afternoon with a brief note congratulating him, and while Draco didn't reply with a note of his own, he did give her a small smile and a polite nod at dinner that day. The Gryffindor team and Ron had buzzed with excitement hearing Slytherin won as it was apparently good news due to there not being a huge gap in points anymore. Hermione had a hard time giving more than a moment to care as even with the time-turner, she had her head in multiple books and barely noticed her snapping at anyone who had tried to disturb her. Narcissa had Hermione take the bag Lucius gifted her on holiday and would have sworn it was heaven sent if a part of her did not still think of him as a demon. A tolerable demon, but a demon.

Hermione was currently in the common room, studying in her corner with several tables to herself pushed together. She planned a long night of studying and decided that it was best she stayed in the common room rather than start in the library and move her things to the commons to finish. The portrait door opened, letting Neville, Harry and Ron through. Her throat ached as she looked at her friends and when she looked down at the paper in front of her, she couldn't read what she wrote as her tears made everything blurry. She felt angry, sad, guilty, protective, and several other feelings that she wished she could talk to them about. She felt like it was first year again except she had no parents to write to or guide her through her emotions. Everything continued to be bottled up and she felt as if she would burst at any second.

Ten minutes later though, Harry and Ron were standing by her table. She slowly looked up and saw them both grinning, presumably because Harry was holding his Firebolt. Her anger bubbled and she found herself wanting to use the broom for firewood but she pressed her lips into a thin line instead, and said nothing.

"I got it back," Harry said, holding up the Firebolt.

"See, Hermione? There wasn't anything wrong with it!" Said Ron.

Her anger made her jump to defend herself and she pointed one of her _Borkin and Burkes_ quills at it. "Well there _might_ have been!" said Hermione. "I mean, at least now you know now that it's safe!" She couldn't believe that after everything they had gone though at Hogwarts she was the one they considered to be daft for being too careful. When she first got back to Hogwarts, she was about ready to plead for forgiveness but after they continued to brush her off, she grew more angry at how they were acting. At first, she did not believe Dr. Augsen when she said Harry and Ron were being unreasonable when she vented about the floo conversation and Ron's howler after Christmas, but over time Hermione started to see that she wasn't in the wrong, no matter how guilty her heart made her feel.

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Harry. "I'd better put it upstairs-"

"I'll take it!" Ron said, reaching out for the Firebolt. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic anyway." Harry allowed Ron to take the Firebolt upstairs, carrying it as if it was made of ceramic or glass.

After Ron disappeared, Harry looked at Hermione, noticing she had dark circles under her eyes. "Can I sit down?"

Hermione didn't answer but moved a stack of parchment that was in a chair next to her, on to the table. Harry didn't say anything more for a moment as he looked over the tomes that littered the table. "How are you getting through all of these?" Harry lifted up one book by it's corner but set it back down with a soft thud. "It's been driving Ron mad trying to figure it out."

"You know- working hard." She hated lying at anytime, but at that moment she hated it more than usual now that Harry was actually trying to converse with her._ I have to make mum and dad proud._ "Ron's been thinking about me?" She shifted the subject off of her, and knowing that Ron may not hate her made her forget any resentment she had towards the Firebolt at that moment.

He nodded but didn't elaborate. "Why don't you drop a couple of subjects?" Harry asked as she started to look for the rune dictionary to help her with the essay she was writing.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes as if he just demanded she run up to the Whomping Willow to give it a hug. "I couldn't do that!" She had considered dropping divination as she found the class to be a waste of time, but understanding that they were half-way through the year, she did not see the point of dropping it now.

The corner of Harry's lips quirked up as he looked down on a very complicated-looking number chart that was by her Muggle Studies essay about why muggles need electricity. "Arithmancy looks terrible."

"Oh no! It's wonderful!" She smiled as she looked up at Harry, happy she was able to slip back into a normal conversation. "It's my favorite subject now! It's-"

At that moment, a yell came from the boy's staircase and the whole common room went silent. Not long after, there was the sound of hurried footsteps then Ron came into view, holding what Hermione assumed was his bed sheet.

"LOOK!" He bellowed, throwing the bed sheet over her book and essays, some of which were still drying. "LOOK!" he yelled again, leaning over Harry to shake the sheets in her face. Hermione was terrified as she never saw Ron act like this before, even with Draco.

"Wha-"

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!" Hermione leaned away from Ron, her back pressing into the wall behind her. She forced herself to break her stare away from his angry eye and looked at the sheets, realizing they had- "BLOOD!" No one dared to speak as Ron yelled, not caring about the scene he was making. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N-no." Her voice was trembling, and she felt herself starting to struggle with breathing as she started to panic. Adrenaline started to flood her veins, and she started to feel claustrophobic with Ron in her personal space.

Ron threw several long, spiky, ginger cat hairs on to her essay. Hermione felt her trembling stop as her anger came back, anchoring her to stand her ground- which she did. Hermione rose from her seat, standing so she was eye level to Ron. "Do not start with this rubbish, Ronald Bilibus Weasley." Hermione felt her magic immediately start to crack and sizzle between her fingers. Her wand, which was laying on the table, rolled to the edge closest to her and bumped the back of her hand.

"YOUR DEMON CAT ATE MY RAT!"

"THAT CAT HAIR COULD HAVE BEEN FROM WHEN HARRY WAS WATCHING HIM!"

"YOUR CAT WAS HARDLY IN THE COMMON ROOM AND WHEN HE WAS, WE-"

"STOP!" Harry stood up suddenly and placed his arms on their shoulders to push them away from each other. Ron was furiously balling up his bed sheets, not caring what essays he knocked to the floor, but said nothing. "Hermione,-"

"No!" Hermione didn't care that everyone had completely abandoned what they were doing to watch the three argue. "Ron has had it out for Crookshanks since he jumped on him at the shop! You have no proof that Scabbers was even eaten by Crookshanks and is probably hiding under some other bed up stairs- I bet you didn't even look for him, did you?" She said the last bit with a maddening superiority that had Ron change into a unique shade of purple she had never seen before on a person.

Ron opened his mouth to speak but Harry beat him to it. "There's blood on the bed sheets Hermione and Crookshanks fur everywhere. Your cat was the one who has had it out for Scabbers-"

"Fine, side with Ron!" Hermione picked up her wand and started sending things from the tables off to her room. "I knew you would!" She sounded completely shrilly and her voice broke again as she gathered the last few books on the tables. "First the Firebolt, now Scabbers, everything's my fault, isn't it! Just leave me alone!" She ran up the stairs of the girls dormitory and neither of them tried to stop her or coax her down. When Lavender tried to talk to Hermione a few minutes later, she cast a silencing charm so Lavender would think she was already sleeping, instead of crying herself to sleep again about everything wrong in her life.  
\---------------------------------  
Draco watched Harry at breakfast the day that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were to have their match against each other to determine who would go against Slytherin. Draco watched as Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and even Ravenclaws go up to Harry, patting him on the back for having the fastest broom in the world. Draco thought it was ridiculous as it wasn't even an _accomplishment_ and people were still singing his praises. He found himself to be slightly jealous, but only a little bit. When news spread that Harry Potter had gotten his Firebolt back from Professor McGonagall, Draco alerted his father immediately who had a Firebolt of his own delivered that same day. Draco asked for it to be delivered after dinner so he could catch the next team Slytherin played against by surprise. The risk of being caught after curfew was worth it if it meant Slytherin got the quidditch cup. Draco shared a look with the Slytherin Team Captain, Marcus Flint- the only person other than Theo and Blaise who knew about Draco's Firebolt- and smirked. They both stood up, with Theo joining them, and made their way over to the Gryffindor table.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" Draco's eye glinted maliciously. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute- in case you get too near a dementor." Draco didn't realize why he felt like something was off about the Gryffindor table but it dawned on him while Flint and Theo sniggered behind him. Hermione wasn't sitting with Harry and Ron, but by herself at the end of the Gryffindor table by the first years. He only noticed it when her bushy popped up from her Divination book when he mentioned a dementor. She frowned as she watched Draco and Harry, her eyes narrowing at the Firebolt.

Draco missed what was said by Harry but when Draco looked back at him, he had a sneer on his face and the Gryffindor team was laughing loudly. Draco narrowed his eyes and trudged back to the Slytherin table where his house surrounded him, asking him, Flint, and Theo about the Firebolt. He let his eyes slid over to where Hermione was sitting to see that she had left the Great Hall. He would be lying if he hadn't noticed the distance between Harry, Ron and her. It was odd as they were always a _trio_\- hence why the Slytherins often referred to them as the _Golden Trio_.

"Firebolt got you shook, Malfoy?" Crabbe taunted from one end of the table, past the small group Malfoy had around him. Goyle matched the sneer Crabbe on his face and Draco rolled his eyes.

"Careful, Crabbe. It almost sounds like you _don't_ want Slytherin to win the cup." His voice had a threatening drawl and the Slytherins sitting between Draco and Crabbe all turned to look at Crabbe with narrowed eyes. Crabbe looked down at his food, lips twisted as if he ate something sour, and said nothing else.

Draco leaned in close to Flint so only he could hear him. "You're still going out there on the field later, right?" Draco looked at Harry and Ron again, who seemed pink in the face from the attention they were getting. _Wankers_.

"Absolutely." It would make the victory more sweet if Gryffindor won today and Slytherin beat them in the final game but Draco did not take chances, he took every opportunity he had so he suggested that some of the team members went on to the field as dementors to spook Harry into falling off is broom.

His eyes slid over to Hermione's now empty seat. "I'll make sure Granger doesn't interfere this game."

Flint nodded, a glint in his eye. "Of course you get the fun part."

Draco shrugged one shoulder, allowing a small smile on his lips. "Mum's orders."

Flint and Draco laughed. When the Gryffindor team got up to head to the locker room, Draco waited thirty minutes before heading towards the quidditch field. It was thirty minutes earlier than what most students left for the game but Hermione's type was often early like that. He waited by the open door way that had a trail leading to the field and waited for her to appear. When students started to leave the Great Hall to go to the field twenty minutes later, he checked his watch, thinking he may have been wrong about her habits.

Ten minutes later, he saw the Weasleys who were not on the team leave the castle to get seats for the quidditch game. Another ten minutes, nearly all of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had made it to the field and were seated in the stands. After another ten minutes, he noticed that the flow of students nearly trickled to a stop with only a few Slytherin and Hufflepuff stragglers. _There was no way she went nearly two hours early... Did she?_ Draco used his wand to check the time again and decided that if she was coming, she was already there as the game started in fifteen minutes.

He looked into the doorway once more, and to his disbelief, saw Hermione running towards the entrance. He quickly ducked back and had a few seconds to think _Merlin, this is going to hurt_ before he threw himself in front of her, knocking both of them over. On their way down, he stuck his hand down one of her robe pockets and his other hand felt the other pocket. _Where the hell is her wand?_

"Ow!" Hermione ended up on her back while he ended up on his stomach as they had both been turned around on impact. Even with the warming charms, the snow got through to his core. "Malfoy?!"

He got up and whisked the snow off of him with his wand, discreetly looking around to make sure no one saw them. "Granger." He extended a hand and she hesitated for a moment before taking it. "I didn't see you ther-"

She had turned away and started to fast walk towards the stands. He jogged so he could catch up to her and gave her a look that she didn't see as she kept looking forward. "It's rude to walk away when someone is talking."

"I'm in a bit of a hurry if you hadn't noticed." Her voice was thick with her annoyance but he hardly noticed, trying to think where she might keep her wand. _Breast pockets are usually on male robes, so she could have it in her sleeve like I do... the only other place would be..._ His eyes dropped down to her skirt and if anyone was around to witness his blush, he would have blamed it on the cold. _She's not the type of girl to wear a garter. But then again..._ "Why were you late? Aren't all swots early birds?"

She threw a glare at him and sped up her pace, ignoring the inquisitive part of her wanting to ask if that was another saying muggles stole. While she may have wanted to be on better terms with Draco, she was starting to grow upset that now was the time he decided to be friendly.

Draco was trying to be nice, but he hated being ignored. "Granger." He jogged to get ahead of her then stomped to block her way. She tried to step to the side but he mirrored her step. "I just want to know what the Wonder Duo did to piss you off."

Hermione looked up at him then and blinked, being caught completely off guard. "What do you know?"

He made a show of rolling his eyes. He was stalling as he didn't think his initial plan to pick pocket her would fail and needed to find another way to steal her wand. "Nothing, that's why I'm- Hey!"

She took off running again while he was distracted, forcing him to chase after her. _Bloody hell, I'll never get her wand_. She was fast and had nearly made it to the stairs of the stands before she slowed down, out of breath from the exertion in the cold February afternoon. He had been close behind her though, and they nearly had a full on collision again.

Thinking fast, he pretended that he couldn't stop and slightly brushed against her, and hand to grab her left arm for balance. He felt his face flush again when he felt nothing and his mind thought about her skirt. He tried to remember the times where he watched her at the manor or at Hogwarts to determine if she was left handed or not, but he could only remember her using her both hands, like at dinner or playing the cello. The other times, he could only remember the back of her head as he usually sat in the back of their classes while she sat in the front.

"What is your problem, Malfoy?" She pulled her hand away and stomped up the stairs, glancing back at him while he followed.

"I don't have a problem, I was just trying to be nice. You're the one who keeps running off on me, mid-sentence."

She gave him a wary glance and while she didn't slow her pace, she stopped stomping. He was running out of time and knew he needed a new plan as there was no way he could get her wand away from her. "They think Crookshanks ate Scabbers."

He gave her a questioning look but then it clicked. She was telling him why Harry and Ron were not on good terms with her. "Crookshanks is a cat though. It's in his nature if he were to eat a rat."

That stopped her in her tracks and she whirled around, eyes bright. The action caught him by surprise and he grabbed the rail to avoid falling back for stopping suddenly himself. "Exactly! But what drives me mad is that they don't even have proof he even ate the rat! First that stupid Firebolt, now Scabbers. They keep blaming me for things and they haven't even helped me with Buckbeak." Hermione ran a hand over her hair that was sticking up in every direction, even with it pulled back in a ponytail. She had heard of the term 'word vomit' before and imagined this is what it felt like to have it as she did not know what she was telling Draco this.

"Well you don't come between a man and his quidditch." She glared at him and turned from him to continue up the stairs but at that same moment, an idea popped in his head. "But you were right to report it." She turned around to face him again, only making it two steps higher, her lips parted in disbelief. It was one thing to be polite but another for Draco to admit she was in the right. "And they shouldn't be blaming you for the Rat's disappearance."

"Thats-"

"Mount your brooms... On my whistle..." Madam Hooch's voice rang through the stadium and Hermione started her ascension up the stairs again, this time, nearly running.

"That's very kind of you, but I have to go-" He ran up the rest of the stairs after her and grabbed her left arm, finally feeling her wand but he completely abandoned his plan for his new one.

"So why support Harry? He's a bit of a tosser and so it Ron with how the two of them had been treating you. You could skip the game-"

Hermione looked at him, completely scandalized he would suggest such a thing. "I have to. Especially with the dementors-"

Alarm bells went off in his head when she mentioned dementors. He needed to get her away from the stadium as soon as he could- any means necessary. "Do you even like quidditch? From how you talk about it, it doesn't seem like it- not to mention you congratulated me, the seeker of your rival house for winning the last game. If you're not on good terms, there's no point in going-"

"I have to support Harry. He's my best friend." She tried to pull her arm back gently as she didn't want anything to happen to her wand.

Draco thought of the flames she had conjured the last Gryffindor game. The stands were hundreds of feet away from the dementors and it was pouring but she cast her spells with ease. Flint, along with the majority of the Slytherin team members were going out on the field dressed as dementors to scare Harry and she could easily harm them, if not kill them. He thought back to his jealousy of Harry at Breakfast and figured speaking from a place of truth may help him in his favor. "Seriously Granger, that sort doesn't deserve your friendship." Draco released her arm and stuffed both his hands in his pockets. He hated Harry for always being in the spotlight and he hated Harry for having such good friends. Draco knew he had Theo and Blaise now but their friendship had just started and was completely fresh. It wasn't the brotherhood he hoped it would grow into yet. "It's been what? Two months and they haven't talked to you? Forcing you to sit with first years? Blaming you for either being cautious or not having control over an animal that hunts for itself?"

Hermione's eyes started to water and she felt like she was having tea with Lucius again. Jordan Lee, the announcer for the game along with Fred and George's best friend, could be heard in the back ground, giving her a moment to stop herself from crying before responding. "Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal..."

Hermione looked up the stairs again then looked down at Draco. She shook her head. "Even if I didn't want to be here, I have nothing else to do at Hogwarts- And it's barely been over a month. I sit with the first years willingly, they need a lot of help adjusting." Hermione fidgeted with the ring on her necklace as she spoke. From his few personal encounters with her, he knew that fidgeting was a nervous habit she had when she was either thinking too hard or trying not to think and hoped his words were getting through to her.

"I'll go back with you." The words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about it. His words shocked them both and he scrambled to cover up his surprise so she did not grow suspicious of his ulterior motives. "I shouldn't have pushed you on Christmas and I haven't been able to approach you after we got back." Draco refused to look up at her as he realized that he wasn't necessarily lying anymore and was speaking from another place that wasn't jealously, but still the truth. "I can help you with whatever you're doing with Buckbeak- or we can go to the music room." He thought about Christmas Eve in her room and figured he should return the sentiment. "It has a piano and I-"

He stopped as she shook her head, hair flying everywhere. "I can't." His head snapped up and Hermione had one tear going down her cheek. "As mad as they may be with me, I need them. And I need to make sure nothing else happens to Harry."

Both of them were silent for a few minutes until Jordan was heard again. "Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's Firebolt really..." Jordan went on a small rant about the specifications of the Firebolt before Profesor McGonagall interrupted him again for being an ad rather than an announcer.

"Maybe another time-" She started, again but Draco bumped into her as he past her, knocking her into the wall. She didn't miss the dark look on his face as he did it and she felt her mood dip.

"No." He walked up the rest of the stairs, not bothering to look behind him again as he was more that disgruntled by her refusal, but _hurt_. Draco didn't understand how the brightest witch of the age was allowing herself to be kicked around by two boys who didn't seem to know their left from their right. Draco thought back over to his lessons from his mother and tried to remember if this was a response to the trauma she endured or if it this was due to Hermione's bleeding heart personality.

"Well someone is late." Theo moved over as he had saved a seat for Draco beside him. Blaise was on Theo's other side, his head in his hands as he was obviously bored with the game.

"I got tied up." Draco glanced over his shoulder to make sure Hermione had not gotten to the top of the stairs as he twirled her wand in front of him. Theo howled with laughter and Blaise's eyes went wide.

"You owe me ten galleons Blaise." Theo elbowed their Italian friend before turning to Draco when he slid into the seat next to them. Theo had the same glint in his eye that Flint did earlier. "So tell me, is she a fighter?" He laughed again at Draco's disgusted look. "I'm just pulling your leg, mate. How did you do it?"

"Pick pocket." He stuffed the wand into the breast pocket of his robes as he turned to watch the game.

"Why would a Malfoy need to know how to- do _that_? The last thing you need to do is steal from anyone else, you can just buy what you need." Blaise had his cheek resting on his fist as he looked at Draco.

Draco shrugged. "For instances like now. I only learned it to mess with people. Take what's not theirs, put it somewhere else or use it against them." The three Slytherin's watched the game for a couple of minutes before Theo nudged Draco.

"Well, you didn't do a good job." Theo was staring past Draco and when he turned around, he saw a furious Hermione making towards the top of the stands where Draco and all the Slytherin's sat. Shite.

She stood in front of him, arms crossed and magic crackling around her. "Give it back."

Even without her not having a wand, Draco was a bit scared of her and wondered why he thought taking her wand was a good idea in the first place. "Give what back?"

"_My wand_. I know I had it on me when I was on the stairs, and even checked the stairs, but after you bumped into me it was gone." If looks could kill he knew he would be dead ten times over.

Draco removed his own wand and cast the spell he had learned from the manor over the summer that had already proved to save his neck more than once. "_Muffliato_."The Slytherin's were starting to stare at them and the last thing he needed was someone from his house trying to embarrass him further than Hermione already was. Theo knew the spell that was cast and gave Draco a withering look as he was excluded from the conversation. He bought himself a few seconds of time casting the spell and decided to try and revert to his other plan as he had no better alternatives. "Go back to the castle with me."

Hermione scoffed. "You stole my wand because you want to hang out with me? Do you think I'm an idiot, Malfoy?" She pointed a gloved hand at her chest when he said this and he saw her hands were smoking through the gloves she wore. Theo noticed too and cast a weak _Notice-Me-Not_ charm over the two so people would stop staring at them and pay attention to the game. Draco didn't speak until most of the students turned back to the game, blinking away the blank stares they had before turning away from them. He knew with Theo's charm being weak, it wouldn't work on anyone who was close to him or Hermione, like Pansy or Ron who were both staring at them at the moment.

He pointed at hand as she had not noticed that both of her hands were smoking herself. "Granger-"

"Malfoy just give me back my wand!" She stopped her foot and the smoke percolated through the gloves at an intense speed. He knew it was purely accidental magic that was being controlled by her emotions but he was intimidated. He never knew how to handle Hermione as she had been a wild card over the past few months, and had already found himself at the wrong end of her wand. Unsure if he had any other choice, he removed her wand from his breast pocket and handed it to her. She snatched it and immediately turned it on him. He put both hands in the air as a sign of surrender but she quickly canceled out the _Muffliato_ charm along with the _Notice-Me-Not_ charm and turned her wand on him.

Hermione was furious at Draco and wanted to hurt him for taking something that was not just as much as a part of her as her hand or foot, but something she made sure she kept on her person at all times as the last time she was without it, her parents died. Hermione considered using the _Stinging Jinx_, but with so many witnesses after she took down the privacy charms to publicly embarrass him, she settled for something more mundane and cast the _Bat Boogey Hex_ on him.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded signaling the snitch had been caught. The Gryffindor's were cheering and screaming as they ran down the stairs and Hermione quickly joined them, not just to see who won but to get away from the angry Slytherin's who were already starting to draw their wands to cast hexs back at her. She was immediately engulfed by her house mates and when she got to the bottom, she stayed with the crowd instead of heading back to the Gryffindor commons like she had planned before she came down for the game.

When she made it to the middle of the field where everyone was standing, she saw Marcus Flint, Crabbe, Goyle, and a Slytherin student she recognized as a chaser lying in a crumpled heap near by. _What-_

"The dementors didn't affect me at all!" Harry said excitedly. "I didn't feel a thing!"

_Dementors?_ Hermione felt a cold that wasn't from the fading winter and she tasted bile gathering in her mouth. _He was attacked and I wasn't there._

Professor Lupin laughed. "That would be because they- er- weren't dementors." Lupin gestured to the Slytherin's on the floor that Harry had not noticed yet. Upon Hermione's further inspection, it looked as if Flint and the chaser were standing on Crabbe and Goyle's shoulders as they were dressed as dementors. Hermione became heated once more and her face was nearly a replica of Professor McGonagall's current expression of utmost fury.

"An unworthy trick!" McGonagall was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin!" Hermione felt herself starting to smile, even though she thought the punishment was light, until she heard Professor Snape's voice from behind them.

"If we are currently taking points from houses, I'm taking fifty points from Gryffindor." Hermione turned to look at him and saw that Pansy Parkinson was closely following behind while staring directly at Hermione with the biggest grin on her face. "Miss Granger attacked one of my students while the seeker had caught the snitch." Hermione quickly scanned the Slytherin's joining Snape behind him and didn't see Draco nor Blaise, but did see Theo.

Everyone turned to look at her and her face felt hot from the attention. The Slytherin's muttering as they smiled wickedly and the Gryffindor's whispered. Hermione tried to defend herself, "He took my wand-"

"Then how did you hex him, then? I can assure you there are more than enough witnesses here to confirm what was done." Pansy flipped her hair over her shoulder as Snape said this and Hermione understood she was the one who reported it, not Draco who had probably left to have the hex lifted by Madam Pomfry. "While you thought all the teachers were distracted, you thought you could get away with attacking Mr. Malfoy. It was- ah, what did you say Minerva? _An unworthy trick_."

Hermione was at a loss for words as she stared back at Snape. There was silence from everyone as no one knew what to say. She heard the whispers throughout the months and knew that while her housemates thought of her as a kind hearted person, they found it difficult to deny a part of her hadn't changed. They saw her on her worst days, where she was bawling and no amount of comforting helped until she came down after a while. They saw her when she was angry and she snapped at a teacher or at her peers for interrupting her while she studied. The Gryffindors could no longer put it past her that she had attacked another student as she came off as unstable now, even if the claim was coming from Professor Snape. They thought he was unfair but not a liar.

"That's not true." Her voice was small as the pressure of everyone's gaze overwhelmed her. She glanced and Harry and Ron who were furiously whispering to each other. She briefly wondered if it was about her or not, but then she wondered if they were on good terms if they would have stood up for her. _If we were talking, I would have went to the game on time with Ron and not had my wand stolen._ Hermione scowled at the thought which seemed to be taken as confirmation to Snape's story by everyone else. Snape grinned as McGonagall gave Hermione a concerned look.

For a heartbeat, no one said anything before George Weasley tried to get the Gryffindor's back into a celebratory mood. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"  
\--------------------------------  
Hermione was nearly asleep that night when she heard very loud yelling.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

She sat up at first, waiting to hear anymore sounds of the party that had been going on until one in the morning before McGonagall insisted everyone go to bed. There was a sound of a door slamming in the distance and the soft pounding of foot steps. It hit her that it was not a yell from teens celebrating and she grabbed her wand, running to the girl's dormitory stairwell. She quickly cast a _Glisseo _charm on the stairs, turning it into a slide so she could get to the bottom faster. As she neared the bottom of the stairs she kept her wand in front of her, and at the level of her eyes so all she had to do was cast her next spell in the event there was an intruder in the dorm. _Please let everyone be safe._

When she got to the bottom, she heard the portrait door close and the sound of several boys coming down the stairs of the dormitory, asking questions as they descended the stairs.

"Who shouted?"

"What're you doing?"

Harry was the first to reach the bottom of the boy's stairs, followed by Ron and Seamus Finnigan. Hermione kept her wand raised as she breathed a sigh of relief seeing they were safe but continued to walk towards the portrait door. The common room's fire was roaring and other than the remains of the debris from the party, it was deserted. More of the boys made it down the stairs and finally, some of the girls did too.

Hermione was almost to the entrance when she heard Seamus' thick Irish accent interrupt her thoughts. "Are you _sure_ you weren't dreaming, Ron?"

"I'm telling you, I saw him!"

"Saw who?" Hermione turned around, finally lowering her wand to look at Ron._ Please don't say Black._ Ron scowled and looked away, not wanting to say who as he felt Hermione would only gloat about how she had a right to be paranoid about the Firebolt. "Ron this isn't the time!"

"Excellent," Fred interrupted as he and his twin finally made it to the bottom of the stairs. "Are we carrying on?"

"Everyone back upstairs!" said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas while he spoke.

"Perce- Sirius Black!" The common room got quiet at the name and Hermione gave a sharp gasp. _Godric, no._ "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

The common room went very still until Percy scoffed, breaking himself out of being startled. "Nonsense! You had too much to eat, Ron- had a nightmare-"

"Don't just brush him off! Sirius Black isn't something we should be lax about!" Hermione had a hand extended gesturing to Ron and he tried to hide the grateful look he had for her standing up to him .

Percy gave Hermione a sympathetic look. "Hermione, you've been through a lot. First the Firebolt, now my brother-"

"Just WHAT are you trying to say, _Percy_." Hermione's nostrils had flared and a spark came from the top of her wand. Hermione could hear Dr. Augsen's voice in the back of her mind warning her about the risks of letting her emotions rule her magic and she tried to fight very hard against hexing Percy on the spot for what he was insinuating.

Before he could continue though, Professor McGonagall crawled into the Common Room. "Now, really, that's enough! I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this professor!" Percy puffed up indignantly, "I was just telling them to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare-"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

Professor McGonagall stared at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" said Ron, who was pointing behind McGonagall at the back of Sir Cadogan's portrait, the only portrait in the castle who agreed to take over the Fat Lady's post after her picture was attacked by Sirius Black last time. "Ask him if he saw him!"

McGonagall huffed but turned around and climbed out of the portrait door hole. Hermione half expected McGonagall to leave it at that but then she heard McGonagall speak and the whole common room gathered on the other end of the entrance, listening with bated breath.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" Cried Sir Cadogan.

There was stunned silence from everyone and Hermione closed her eyes as she let her forehead rest on the wall by the entrance of the portrait. Hermione could feel a migraine starting to form. She was more than scared, she was panic-stricken. Not even Hogwarts, with its magically fortified walls were safe anymore. The only real solstice she felt anymore was... at the Manor. Her eyes drift open at that and she found herself biting back a manic giggle. Eight months ago, she would have never thought of the manor that way.  
\------------------------------  
No one had slept that night and once again, security was upped again at Hogwarts. Sir Cadogan was moved back to his original place in the castle and the Fat Lady returned with surly security trolls to guard her. Neville wasn't allowed to know the passwords to the common rooms as Sir Cadogan informed he let Black in due to Black reading all of the week's passwords that Neville admitted he had written down and lost one day. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was banned from all future Hogsmeade trips for the year and had received another howler at breakfast the following morning.

Hermione tried to approach Ron all of the following week, but people were constantly gathered around him, asking him to repeat his tale of his encounter with Sirius Black. For the moment, he was more famous that Harry and loved the attention he was getting. Harry was happy that the attention wasn't on him for once and not at Hermione's expense.

Hermione had hoped that Ron had realized she was concerned for him too and would put the Scabbers vs. Crookshanks argument aside but he still made no point to seek her out, although he had no issues socializing with Harry. Hagrid made an attempt to talk to them about Hermione, and she waited for them to try to approach her, but they said nothing to her in the common room that Friday night. She decided to do her studies in the common room the following day, hoping they would notice and approach her. Hermione was physically getting sick to the point Dr. Augsen had asked for Hermione to drop a class or two but insisted it was not her classes that were the issue. When Ron and Harry entered the common room after breakfast, they immediately started making plans to sneak Harry into Hogsmeade the following weekend.

"Harry!" Hermione was sitting on a table right behind them, clearing a path of books out of her way so she could properly talk to them. She hadn't eaten all day as she was waiting to see them and she looked completely shaken. She hadn't been sleeping properly since Black's second break-in and even when she was awake, her anxiety was triggering severe flashbacks. "Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade again..." Hermione took a deep breath. She didn't want to say what she was going to say next but Harry going to Hogsmeade was practically begging for death in her eyes. "I'll tell professor McGonagall about the map."

Harry opened his mouth but Ron beat him to it. "Can you hear someone talking, Harry?" Ron looked at Harry, refusing to look at Hermione.

Hermione's voice cracked when she spoke again. "Ron, how can you let him go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to you? Aren't you scared?" She saw Ron's back stiffen and hoped that meant he was listening to her this time. "I mean it, I'll tell-"

"So now you're trying to get Harry expelled!" Ron turned around, not hiding how furious he was with her. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"

Hermione leaned back in her chair, completely dejected. _Damage...?_ Hermione felt something inside of her break then and she could almost physically feel a snapping inside of her. It wasn't in her head like most people suspected had already happened to her, but in her chest. All of a sudden, she felt as if she was there but wasn't there at the same time- as if she was a passenger in her own mind. Someone was driving her and forced her to stand up as Ron turned back to Harry but Harry stared at her. A very far, and a very distant part of her recognized the look on Harry's face as guilt. That same part of her heard Harry tell Ron he was a complete arse and tried to talk to her, ignoring what Ron had said next. Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and she looked at him. She felt herself telling him to let her go and he did, allowing her to crawl out of the portrait door.

Hermione walked around the castle for hours. She didn't feel anything at first, not hunger, not pain as she had completely dissociated. After a few hours, she felt her shift back into the driver's seat of her mind and life became very real for her once again. It started with a silent crying, then she could feel her shoes hitting the cold ground, which woke up other parts of her body like her chest, which hurt from the pain Ron had caused. That pain only got worse as she became aware of her crying and started to sob so hard it hurt to breathe as her throat became scratchy. _I only make things worse for them. They don't need me, they don't want me._ Hermione paid no attention to where she was walking, even when she ended up outside, only wearing the sweater Molly had knitted and her school robes. It was almost the end of February, but still too cold as the weather ranged between 5 and 7 Celsius. _They hate me._

Hermione continued to cry, not caring where she was going until she reached the Astronomy tower. Hermione looked at the barricaded doors and she left like she was in the bath tub on afternoon of Christmas Eve again. She pulled out her wand and with a sob cast an _alohormora_. The doors unlocked and swung open. In a fleeting thought, she was reminded of Dumbledore and how she thought he was a great wizard, but too trusting of his students. When she got inside, she didn't bother locking the door behind her and started her walk up the stairs.

_They think I'm worthless._ She hiccuped. _I think I'm worthless. All my studying and I am still inadequate._ Her head hurt and she felt as if it was ringing. She felt the puffiness of her face from the crying but she didn't care._ I never was pretty anyways. Pansy was right, I'd never find anyone with my hair and my teeth._ Hermione barely noticed the draft the stairwell had until a strong wind had pushed through and she had to physically stop to make sure she did not loose her balance._ Mom would kill me if she saw me without a scarf._ Hermione let out something that was between a sob and a scream at that. _I was never going to make them proud. No matter how many subjects I took, no matter how many tests I passed, I was always destined to disappoint them._ Hermione had thought going up the tower's stairwell was a long walk but soon she found herself at the top of it. Her eyes immediately floated to the unguarded ledge of the tower- A twisted part of her found it funny that the ledge was the reason the tower was supposed to be closed off unless there was a lecture in session, yet she was there. Hermione put her hands on the ledge and she didn't feel scared of the height that she was at, even though it was the tallest point at Hogwarts. She felt scared that she would chicken out and live another day with her pain. Hermione got on her knees on the edge, trying to force herself to stand._ I don't deserve to live without them. I didn't protect them when I could have. _Hermione felt herself taking deep breaths and she involuntarily shivered as it was much more cold this high up. _I'm just a mudblood. _Hermione repeated that last thought until she was standing up straight.

She looked to the left, thinking the view was beautiful as the sun started to set over the quidditch pitch. When she felt ready, she looked down and immediately regretted it. Her vertigo kicked in and cleared her mind for a brief second, wanting her to turn back and return to safety. She felt that jolt of shock course through her after another second, even worse than it was in the bath tub. However, Hermione being caught up in her head, failed to notice that there were no sounds of life around her, and the cold was more than numbing, but bone chilling. When she turned around to climb back down, she was face to face with a dementor who was pulling back its hood, taking in a rattling breath- causing her to faint and plummet towards the ground.  
\-----------------------------  
Knowing that Slytherin was playing against Gryffindor, Draco suggested to Flint that they up their practices to several times a week after lunch but before dinner. Usually, he would not even bother suggesting it as Flint was the type to brush things off when there was something like a Firebolt on his side, but Draco used his humiliation at their failed dementor plan in his favor. Flint agreed and after showing off his Firebolt to his team- which Crabbe was livid about but refused to show it to anyone but Draco- they trained, hard. Draco had been training with the Beaters so they could practice hitting someone flying on a Firebolt while Flint had the rest of the team do their regular drills.

After practice was done, Draco stayed out on the field, practicing his turns and short stops. When he felt it was time to go inside, as his warming charms were becoming less effective the more the sun disappeared from view, he glided towards the ground, moving as a leisurely speed. He was grinning ear to ear and told himself he would send a letter to his father, thanking him a second time for the broom. Draco's thoughts drifted to Hermione and how she hated Harry's Firebolt. He had been avoiding her lately, as he was concerned she may come after him a second time: The look in her eyes when they were in the stands was one he noticed his father sometimes had. It was when Lucius was punishing Draco and wanted to do worse, but didn't because he was 'holding back.' Draco wondered what would have happened if she would have agreed to return to the castle with him instead of being the loyal Gryffindor Princess she was.

He was in the middle of daydreaming about what song he would have played for her if she wanted to go to the music room when he happened to notice an odd figure at the top of the astronomy tower. After he drifted a few meters closer, he recognized one to be the cloak of a dementor but the other... His eyes widened as he realized that the other figure was a student. Panic hit him and he turned to tell his Head of House but then the figure started to fall to the ground, falling at an alarming speed.

For a moment, he thought he wouldn't get there on time but then remembered he had a_ Firebolt_. He gripped the handle and raced forward, pulling out his wand to cast a cushioning charm in the event he was wrong about the broom's speed.

Right when he finished casting the charm, he connected with the figure, grabbing them by the waist and he hoped he did not hurt them further when he felt pain shoot in his shoulder. The extra weight was something he did not account for and he ended up flying side ways until he was able to slow down and drift closer to the ground again. When they were low enough, he gently climbed down from the broom and froze as he finally saw who it was. The Firebolt had moved so fast her clothes were just a blur of color when he reached her, making her unrecognizable while they were in the air.

_Merlin, no._ Hermione's head lolled back as she was completely unconscious and when he used one hand to lift her head, he saw her lips were void of their usual pink and was a very pale blue. _Please don't be dead._ Draco looked back and could see the dementor in the distance. With the way it's cloak moved, he was unsure if it was coming closer but he had no intention to stay if it was. Draco removed Hermione's cloak and transfigured it into a stretcher, as transfiguration was easier than conjuration. He easily lifted her on to it, despite his shoulder objecting with pain, and looked back at the dementor that could tell was now coming closer. Draco cast a spell to link the stretcher to his Firebolt so he could guide her to the hospital wing.

Draco flew at a hurried speed but made sure it wasn't so fast to where she was in danger of slipping off the stretcher. He silently sent prayers as he flew, hoping that to whatever God was listening, she had not received the kiss and was still... Hermione. Draco passed by Filch who started to yell and chase after him but Draco refused to slow down. A small part of him hoped that no one else saw him but a bigger part of him did not care at that moment. _Granger's a good person who doesn't deserve any of this. Please let her be ok._

When he finally made it to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was finishing up her treatment on Crabbe who had gotten hurt in practice. Both Madam Pomfrey's and Crabbe's eye widened when Draco used his wand to throw open the doors, and end the spell on Hermione's cloak, letting her fall gently onto a hospital bed. Madam Pomfrey immediately ran over and started to check her vitals.

"What happened?"

"A dementor attacked her. Outside." _Should I lie about where she was?_

"Were you attacked, too?" He shook his head and, thankfully, Madam Pomfrey didn't ask him where exactly Hermione was. When she was done looking Hermione over, she looked him in the eyes, answering a question he did not know he was waiting an answer on. "She's going to be fine although she should have been covered up a bit more. She almost went into the second stage of hypothermia and has heavy bruising on her left side." _Shite, I should've put a warming charm on her._

Madam Pomfrey walked off to get her supplies and Draco locked eyes with Crabbe who was staring him down. Draco put on a look of distaste that would have rivaled his father's and he removed his wand so the privacy curtains surrounded Hermione's bed. Draco pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed. _What were you doing up there, Granger?_ There was a very short list in his mind on why a student would be at the astronomy tower and genuinely wanted to know why she was up there so he could rule out the bad scenarios.

Draco watched Madam Pomfrey work on Hermione, at first she cast a slow working warming charm, so she did not go into shock from the change in temperatures (which made him feel worse as he did not think of that either,) then she force fed Hermione a mixture of pure chocolate and milk down her throat to counteract the effects of the dementor on her. Madam Pomfrey then started to chip off chunks of chocolate from the small chocolate boulder the had on the plate in front of her. "Will she be waking up anytime soon?"

Madam Pomfrey gave a soft snort. "No, she won't. The poor girl is completely drained." Madam Pomfrey turned to him, wiping her hands off on her skirt. "I'm going to need you to leave Mr. Malfoy. I need to heal her bruises." She paused for a second, before putting her hands on her side. "Do you happen to know how she got the bruises?"

His shoulder and neck screamed 'YES' but what he told the healer was "No."

She nodded, as she had the tendency to not ask too many questions. "Very well." Madam Pomfrey turned back to Hermione and started to lift her sweater as he left. When he stepped out of the privacy curtains, Crabbe was gone and when Draco checked the time with his wand, he saw that dinner had just finished. His stomach growled but he reminded himself he had been through worse hungers and returned to his common room.

As he laid in bed, he tried not to think about Hermione, trying to remind himself that he should hate her for hexing him, for publicly embarrassing him, not wanting to figure her out like she was a puzzle. Draco hardly knew her and yet, every part that he saw of her left an impression that he wanted to explore. She was like the Manor or Hogwarts: a collection of secrets that he wanted to know.

After saving her, Draco had fully come to terms with the fact that he knew what he wanted. He wanted to be her friend and have the same loyalty she seemed to have with Harry and Ron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 degrees Celsius is 41 degrees Fahrenheit and 7 degrees Celsius is 44.6 degrees Fahrenheit.


	18. Year Three: Part VII (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Miscarriage mention, suicide mention, depression, self harm.
> 
> A/N: Some one find me a sugar daddy so I can dedicate my life to writing and never take another college course again.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

_Knock, knock, knock._ The study door creaked open and Crewe's head appeared in the room. "Master, Mr. Nott has come to-"

Lucius put the journal he was writing in into one of his desk drawers and set his white peacock quill down. "Let him in you vazey halfwit." The insult lacked its usual venom as he was feeling a bit depressed at how his usually busy days had slowed to a dull.

Crewe bowed his head and opened the door to allow Theodore Nott, Sr. to walk into the room, his Jaxon hat in his hands. "Thank you for having me, Lucius- I hope I am not disturbing you."

Lucius waved a hand, "Please, sit down, the only thing that is disturbing me is all the orders I have to sign off on. Would you like a drink?" Lucius got up and walked over to the globe behind him. He tipped it open to reveal two glasses and a bottle of gin. Lucius preferred Fire Whiskey but knew Nott preferred Gin so he kept a bottle around for his oldest ally. With his back turned he didn't see Nott raise an eyebrow at Lucius's desk that was bare of any orders that he mentioned.

"I'd love one, no ice, no water." Lucius poured two glasses, his having ice, and handed the other without ice to Nott. After he took a sip, Nott spoke again. "So business is good then?" Nott's eyes were as dark as his pupils and his son's were nearly the same, only a shade lighter. Lucius found it interesting how dark they were and questioned if they were natural or not, as he knew the nature of Draco's eyes.

"Of course." It was a lie. Nearly every single business he worked with had pulled out, even ones that had been in his family for generations. The few that didn't, he was hesitant to work with as he was concerned they had intentions to try and black mail him. All of the businesses he had worked with regularly were shady businesses though and it was to be expected for them to withdraw their interest as dark wizards usually went hand in hand as blood purists. Some wizards even considered blood traitors to be beneath muggleborns- Lucius being one of them.

"Mmmm," Knot took another sip of his drink, never breaking eye contact with Lucius. "I've heard differently. You know we have some of the same business' working with us. Some of them have been very vocal on how they feel about the Malfoy name. Others have offered to make better deals with me."

"I see." Lucius took a sip of his drink. He hated how Nott always had to beat around the bush or asked questions he knew the answer to. Lucius had always been a straight forward wizard. "So why ask? Better yet- what do you want, Nott?" Lucius used Theodore's last name as a reminder they were not friends, simply allies.

Nott nodded once and removed a envelope from inside his jacket pocket. It was nearly identical to the black envelopes that the Malfoys used when writing letters except this one had the dark mark in glossy black over the matte envelope. Lucius kept his face still to betray nothing but his stomach flipped and his mark itched. His loyal years of servitude to Voldemort were enjoyed but they came at the cost of fearing for not just his life, but Narcissa's. Even the most loyal were not safe when it came to the Dark Lord. "You didn't have to hand deliver this, you never had before."

Nott's eye twinkled as he spoke. "I wanted to make sure you would accept this time. You hadn't accepted in years and a lot of the inner circle doubts you now more than ever." Nott gave a sympathetic look that pissed Lucius off immediately. "The Quiddittch World Cup Tournament is coming in the summer. I assume you bought tickets?"

Lucius raised a blonde eyebrow. "Yes. A birthday gift for Draco." Lucius made a mental note to pick up another ticket for Hermione at the mention of it.

Nott leaned forward, his excitement becoming more evident on his face. "Then this will be perfect, he can join me, Theo and the rest of the inner circle to remember our Dark Lord. I have invited a few others, some of them possible business partners so you can get some connections back. Prove to them that the Malfoy name is still one of honor. I don't know how you ended up adopting a mudblood but the Lucius and Narcissa I know would have never let such filth be dragged into their home." Nott shook his head in disgust and took another drink. "I respect you enough not to pry. Your business has always been your business and I am sure you have your own plans for her." Nott straightened in his chair, grinning at Lucius. "So what do you say?"

Lucius had been half listening to Nott, a part of him focusing on the wards to locate Narcissa, while another part thought of how the Death Eaters getting together at the Quidditch World Cup would be the perfect opportunity to get rid of Hermione... If his wife allowed it. He had started to grow suspicious after Christmas about his wife's intent with the girl as her fondness for Hermione seemed too genuine to be an act. "I would need to speak to Narcissa before accepting."

Nott gave an unintelligent grunt and Lucius was unsure what it meant. "Of course. I don't know why you let her have so much say, I would have killed Theo's mother sooner if she even tried to have as much say as Narcissa does-" Lucius gave Nott a dark look at the suggestion and Nott put a hand in front of him to stop Lucius. "Your business is your business."

"You should do well to remember that she was ranked above either of us. If the Dark Lord could move past archaic views, so should we." Lucius never treated or saw Narcissa as an inferior but Nott was hard pressed like many men to let his misogynistic views go. Nott was always one to follow the crowd and if Lucius had to bring up other men's views on his wife to make sure Narcissa was shown respect, then he would.

Another grunt and Nott drank the rest of his whiskey. "After you two talk and are ready to accept, you know to open the envelope." Nott stood and Lucius escorted him to the front doors of the manor.

"I look forward to your reply." With a nod, Nott exited the front doors.

Lucius started to walk to the second floor balcony, where he sensed his wife. When he got there, she looked up at him, worry on her face as she held a parchment in her hands. He gave her a quick peck on the lips for comfort. Whatever had her worried had him alarmed as Narcissa did not often let herself become concerned with a lot of things. "What's wrong?"

She handed him the letter she received. It was another one from Draco about Hermione and as he read, the more confused he became. "Why are you so worried? She's unharmed." He knew Narcissa had a soft spot for children, even muggle ones- it was one of the reasons she made sure Voldemort favored her over most of his followers, she passed along any duties involving children to others so she did not have to harm them- but he did not see why she was this worried. His earlier doubts came to mind and he studied her as she spoke.

Narcissa blinked, slightly taken aback and looked away, hiding her face from him. "I don't see why she was on the astronomy tower. Even then, the ledge is tall and thick, she had to climb on to it for her to fall."

"You think she tried to kill herself? He said a dementor was present, it was probably just an accident." Lucius pulled a chair over so he could sit in front of Narcissa.

"I do. Even if it was an attempt to get away from the dementor... She's been through a lot and-" Lucius grabbed her hands, even though one of them was still holding the envelope Nott gave him. She removed her hand and saw the glossy emblem that was the dark mark. "What is this, Lucius?" She took it from his hand and made to open it, but he stopped her by placing his hands over hers.

"Nott delivered it. If you open it, it means we have accepted the invitation." She looked at him, her expression even more tense as Lucius spoke. "Nott wants to cause some commotion at the Quidditch World Cup Tournament. He didn't give me many details, other than the inner circle who is not in Azkaban would be involved, and that I may be able to save some business opportunities if we were involved."

Narcissa gave a sharp intake of breath, her mind already processing what he was saying. "We would have to accept it then." Her eyes narrowed at Lucius and leaned back. "Draco will not be involved, I don't care if Nott is having his own son join but both he and Hermione have to be kept safe. She's a muggleborn and they'll come after her."

Lucius was surprised, both at Narcissa's protectiveness of Hermione and the relief that released the vice on his stomach at her demanding Draco kept out of it. A part of him said that a twinge of relief was aimed at Hermione being kept safe but dismissed it entirely. She was entertaining to him at best but entertainment could be found elsewhere. He pursed lips and looked at his wife who was deep in her own thoughts. Lucius thought about all of the agreements that were terminated because of his false blood-traitor status the other wizards had labeled his family with. "What are your intentions with Hermione?"

Narcissa didn't look at him but he saw her breathing still. _He's short-sighted, but not an idiot._ "I already told you, I would take care of her."

"But you never gave 'take care of her' a definition. When Draco said he admitted that her adoption was forced, it should been a benefit to you from the impression I was initially given. Hearing that she nearly received the dementors kiss at Hogwarts, turning her into a zombie would give her a one way ticket to St. Mungo's. Theodore Nott wants to attack a place she will be present, and you jump to protect her." His voice was calm instead of accusatory as he wanted to talk to his wife rather than argue with her.

Narcissa looked at her husband and swallowed hard. After all the years they had been together it was one of two lies she had told him- the other being about Dr. Augsen being Andromeda- and she was not expecting to admit her true intentions until the end of the school year at worst. She wanted to cry with everything that had happened before it had even reached noon and Narcissa did _not _cry.

Lucius took the envelope from her hand and pinned it under her plate with Draco's letter. He grabbed her hands again and gripped them, suspecting she may try to run with what he said next. "After... After your last miscarriage-"

Narcissa took a deep breath and tried to pull her hand away but he held on to them. "I told you we don't talk about what Voldemort did!" Her voice came out as a hiss as she struggled.

"And we haven't. Not for fourteen years. But after that had happened, I had asked you if you wanted me to-"

"Murder a pureblood wizard family and take their child?!" Her voice became a roar and she pulled her arms so hard, it hurt. He finally let go of her, knowing she would hurt herself but grabbed the arms of the chair and stood, blocking her from leaving as he leaned over her. If they had a muggle wedding, Narcissa swore she would have divorced him that night when he made the suggestion and they had not talked for _months _afterwards. Her fury instantly came back to her at the mention of their biggest fight they ever had and Narcissa looked away, mentally damning them being wizards as she was unable to hurt him due to their vows. "Why are you talking about this, Lucius?"

"I was a Death Eater and did not fully understand the gift of a child, Narcissa. Not until Draco. Although, if you were to ask me tonight to get you a child I would do it," She looked at him, eyes wide from what she was hearing. "But only out of obligation to you. I would not enjoy it, I would only be doing it because you had requested it of me. I am a cruel person, Narcissa. That's not a secret," He took a deep breath and gathered his emotions to say what he was going to say next. "but if you asked for me to make an exception for Gr-Hermione, I would. I would treat her as if she was family if that's what you wanted of me."

Narcissa stared at her husband for a few minutes, processing what he said and did not speak until he sat in his chair across from her, allowing her to leave if she wanted to as he said what he wanted to say. "What?" Narcissa considered conjuring revealing water as she did not believe Lucius was the one standing in front of her.

"I would... try." He added. "I can't promise to not to hate everything she represents, her presence has disrupted so much. We are far from being broke but I don't have any business partners anymore and I have obligations as Head of House. I won't sit here and do nothing for the rest of my life."

Narcissa reached over to him and grabbed one of his hands between hers. "I know." She paused for a moment and cleared her throat before continuing. "It is what I want. I do feel bad for her, Lucius, and while I know Fudge is the reason she is here with us, I feel... it may have been fate." She played with his hand nervously as the words sounded weird when she said them as neither of them believed in such superstitions. "Or something. I can't think of a better family to protect her." She added.

Lucius bit his tongue at his thoughts on what his wife said and instead turned their palms upward to show the scars they made on their wedding day as part of their bonding ritual. "_You cannot command me, for I am a free person, but I shall serve you in those ways you require._ It was over twenty years ago we promised this to each other as you followed me into the Dark Lord's path-"

Narcissa made a sound similar to a soft snort. "More like you followed me."

Lucius shook his head as he closed his hands over the one with the scar. "I started it. It's the biggest regret of my life bringing you into those dark times and I promised myself I would spend the rest of my life making you up for putting you through that." He took a deep breath before continuing. "If this is the family you want to have, let me know so I may start preparing myself for summer. I want to do right by you." Lucius kissed her knuckles and looked into her eyes. She tried to look away to hide the tear that had fell but he wiped it away before she could fully turn away from him. "I know you believe in actions over words so I will serve you in every way to make you happy."

Narcissa nodded and kissed the hand he still had resting on her cheek. Again, she found herself wishing that he would show his more compassionate side to Draco, but knew with the conversations she and Lucius had been having lately, it would come with time. She grabbed the black envelope and ripped it open and it transfigured into a smokey figure of the dark mark before dissipating. He reached for her hand and stood, gently pulling her up to stand. "I suppose we should head to Hogwarts. No one of the Malfoy family should be attacked without us causing some uproar."

Narcissa playfully hit his arm and shook her head before allowing him to guide her into the house to retrieve their robes, after she sent the letter to Andromeda.

——————————

_Yellow Chrysanthemums, purple Aster's, white Babies Breath, and a Single pink Rose in the middle. This was the bouquet Hermione was carrying as she walked through the cemetery, towards where her parents were buried._

_Or at least, where she thought they were buried. The fog was so thick in the cemetery that she couldn't see more than a meter in front of her, which threw her into a panic as she knew she was on a time frame. Hermione didn't know how she knew this or how much time she had, but she knew when her time was up, something bad was going to happen. She started to run across the graves, frantically reading the gravestones as she stepped over them. She was in the wrong year and she took a turn, hoping to get into the more recently deceased row of bodies._ I have to find mum and dad. I have to find mum and dad. 1970, 1969- I'm going backwards-

_"Hermione!" Her head whipped around, unsure where her father's voice was coming from. "Over here!" she turned again as it sounded as if the voice moved around her. _

_Hermione took a step forward in the direction she thought she heard her father. She took another and when she continued to hear nothing, she kept walking forward, this time calling out herself. "Dad! Where are you?" The feeling of impending doom got worse and her panic made her take off in a sprint. _I have to find them.

_"Hermione, please!" This time it was her mother calling out and when Hermione ran faster, she could see lights dancing through the fog in front of her, she sped up, only to feel something grab her ankle, letting her fall to the side, the flowers flying into the mist before her._

_There was a growl and she looked back, to see a corpse wearing a trench coat and a black bowler hat had a firm grip on her ankle. She let out a cry as she clawed at the ground, trying to pull herself away but the half decayed hand tightened its grip. It pulled her closer and she did the only thing she could think to do: she pulled a leg back and kicked the head of the corpse as hard as she could-_

"SON OF A-"

"Minister, are you all right?!"

Hermione scrambled in bed, pulling her legs up to her chest as pain shot up in the foot she had let fly forward, as she had not fully comprehended that she was no longer dreaming but in bed. She struggled with the covers that were covering her face due to her being tangled in them, before a hand grabbed the white sheets and lifted it from her face.

Hermione went still and blanched seeing Minister Fudge, Dumbledore, Narcissa and Lucius standing around her hospital bed. She looked at Lucius who still had the white blanket in his hand from when he freed her and took it from him, bringing it to her chin. His face was his usual neutral mask but his eyes revealed that he was amused her antics. "What is going on? Why am I in the hospital wing?..." Her voice got smaller as she slowly remembered. The astronomy tower. The dementor. Blacking out. She suddenly felt sick and it must have shown as Dumbledore conjured a bin for her to vomit into.

When she was done, he vanished the liquid, but not the bin, and picked up a small brick of chocolate by the hospital bedside to hand to her. The command to eat was a silent one, and despite her the disgusting taste it created in her mouth, she ate. "We were hoping you could tell us, Miss Granger." Dumbledore looked like he had the day Harry was attacked by dementors when Gryffindor went against Hufflepuff. _He knows about the dementor... But how?_

Hermione skirted around his silent question and answered with one of her own. "How did I get into the hospital wing?"

"I'm going to get Poppy." Narcissa spoke this time and gave the slightest of nods to Lucius who answered Hermione's question.

"Draco said he saw you collapse and managed to chase off a dementor with flames long enough for him to get you to the hospital wing."

"A third year, chasing off a dementor, ridiculous." Minister Fudge muttered under his breath as he rubbed his hand. Hermione's eyebrows raised as she looked at Fudge and she could feel her upper lip curl up from anger. "That's far too advanced-"

"We've had to do it several times already." Hermione looked at the Minister incredulously, fully awake from the chocolate and not believing that he was dismissing a danger he brought to Hogwarts. Narcissa was already returning with Madam Pomfrey close behind her. "Harry Potter has been attacked twice," She ignored the pang in her chest saying his name, but made emphasis on it knowing his life mattered to Fudge over hers. "I've been attacked twice-"

"Twice?" Madam Pomfrey used Narcissa's interruption to check Hermione's vitals. "Albus, why were Lucius and I not notified the first time she had an encounter with those- those creatures?"

"Professor Lupin-"

"I'm sorry, Lupin?" Lucius was the one to interrupt this time, his amused twinkle gone. "As in _Remus _Lupin? Former best friend of-"

"The very same." Dumbledore turned to face Lucius, and Hermione squirmed at his serious demeanor.

Lucius scoffed and looked at Narcissa, choosing not to address Dumbledore. "_And we wonder why break-ins keep happening, if we could have just sent Draco to Durmstrang-_"

Narcissa cut off his rant which he started in French with her own rebuttal. "_I was NOT going to send our son so far away. And what about Hermione? She would have come here anyway._" She waved her hand as a sign she was done with the conversation and Lucius turned away completely, running a hand over his hair. "Continue, Albus- Please."

_Best friend of whom?_ Hermione listened intensely as Madam Pomfrey back off of her and handed her more chocolate. "Does anything hurt, love?"

Hermione nearly said no, but her attention was brought to her right foot that had a very uncomfortable throb. "My foot, actually." She started to take off her shoe and saw Lucius look at Minister Fudge with a smirk, the amused look in his eye again. She glanced at Fudge who had his lips pressed into a line as he continued to rub his hand. When Hermione took her sock off, there was some bruising where her metatarsal bones were. "Oh!"

"You kicked my hand in your sleep." Fudge said gruffly. He flexed his fingers and he made a sound between a whimper and a grunt when one did not move.

"You had your hand on the railing of the bed, Minister, surely you can't be upset at a child when you were the one to place your hand there." Lucius smirked at Fudge. "She's prone to nightmares, you know." Fudge decided to ignore Lucius although everyone noticed a blush started to creep across his face.

Narcissa walked over to the right side of the bed. "I'll heal her Poppy, you can tend to the Minister." Before Madam Pomfrey could protest, Narcissa had her Hawthorn Wood wand out and pointed it over Hermione's foot. "_Reducere tumentes._" Hermione watched closely as Narcissa healed her. "Poppy should have a salve for you to put over the bruising." Before Hermione could reply, Narcissa pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear. "Dumbledore does not know you were at the top of the tower, however, Dr. Augsen will be here to visit you later today." Hermione was completely rigid and didn't move, even when Narcissa pulled away.

Hermione felt the tears pooling in her eyes and took another bite of chocolate just so she could focus on something, even though her throat burned. She felt ashamed, anxious, and everything in between. Narcissa stood and put her hand on her shoulder. Hermione couldn't help but compare how Narcissa comforted her to how her mother comforted her. The Malfoy's were reserved in every way and knew that the hug she just received was only done so she could whisper in her ear while her mother would have literally smothered her until Hermione was the one to move away. Narcissa however offered a hand on her shoulder that had a soft grip. A reassurance that she was there but nothing more and the gesture made her ache for her mother's touch.

"Perhaps we should let Hermione rest and take our conversation elsewhere?" Narcissa gave a pat then removed her hand from Hermione's shoulder before joining her husband at the end of the bed.

The adults gathered into a close circle as they walked off, leaving Hermione with Madam Pomfrey who was asking a house elf to bring Hermione lunch. Hermione could faintly hear Dumbledore's voice growing more and more faint. "Minister, the dementors need to be removed. They had been snuck by twice by Black..."

————————————

"We should have done more to stop her, Ron."

Hermione was laying in bed, curled into the fetal position and pretending to be asleep. She didn't want to face her best friends yet and hoped that they would leave soon. They had been bickering back and forth for the last thirty minutes about her and it made her heart ache even more. A part of her wanted to drop the act and make up with her friends but she felt deeply wounded by them. Hermione didn't want to face them yet after what she almost did.

"I know, Harry." Ron's voice was sad and full of regret. "I shouldn't of had been so hard on her about Crookshanks."

"What if she would have died? What if the dementor made her feel even worse?" Ron stayed silent this time. "Dumbledore told us to be there for her and we weren't." _Dumbledore?_

There was silence for a couple more minutes and behind them she could hear footsteps. "Maybe we should wake her?"

"Don't you dare! I think that's enough of you two, she obviously needs her rest!" Madam Pomfrey's voice was at a regular volume but left no room for an argument. Pomfrey was happy to hear Hermione wanted to stay in the hospital wing as most students tried to leave and was more than willing to play along with her fake sleeping, knowing it was a queue that she was not wanting to be bothered.

"What is _he _doing here?" Ron's voice had taken an angry tone and Hermione remembered how he looked at her when he was shoving the bed sheet in her face.

"I would suggest you buy some glasses, Weasley, but I know you'd have to sell a brother to afford it and no one would want to buy him. I'm bringing Granger books from her classes." When she heard Draco's annoying, drawling voice she nearly opened her eyes as she was hesitant to believe her ears. _Why is he here? He shouldn't care if I miss homework. _Lucius said that Draco had saved her and she tried to poke holes in the logic for hours but without more information she had nothing to disprove it. The fact that Narcissa knew she was on Astronomy Tower only proved he helped her, although she did not believed he chased off the dementor. He was no where near her from what she remembered on the tower and her blue flames only caused them to scatter from surprise, making them slow their accent to Harry when he fainted.

"That's enough, Mr. Malfoy. Go and take the books to her bedside." Hermione heard footsteps come closer to her and a heavy thud that she assumed was the books being set down. Madam Pomfrey's footsteps, accompanied by Harry and Ron's footsteps, became more and more distant until there was the distant thud of the heavy, wooden door closing behind them. The only sounds that came next was the footsteps of Madam Pomfrey passing by her bed to go to her office.

Half of Hermione's brain said she was alone because it was so quite while the other said that she wasn't as she never heard Draco leave her side. She stayed how she was for a few minutes, trying to keep her breathing as even and as slow as possible. "You can stop pretending, they left." Hermione hesitated opening her eyes but gave in. When she did, she jumped back as his face was so close to hers that his eyes looked like silver and black orbs.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Malfoy!" He threw his head back with laughter at her reaction. She had clutched her chest as a comfort to her racing heart. Hating how he was laughing at her, she grabbed her pillow and hit him with it.

"Hey!" He grabbed the pillow from her and scowled.

"Came to finish the job by heart attack?" Hermione regretted what she said immediately as she knew what she tried to do was not something to make light of.

"You have an odd way of thanking people, Granger." Draco sat in the chair that was farthest from her and put his feet on the one closest to her so he was facing her.

Hermione felt a pang of guilt and looked away. _What is wrong with me? _"I'm sorry." She glanced at him and resisted the urge to apologize a second time remembering that he didn't like the words.

"Don't worry about it." He waved a hand and looked down at the pillow in his lap. He thought about what he would say if she was awake but he couldn't remember any of it now. He didn't know how to interact with a Gryffindor he was supposed to hate due to her blood status. At least, not when he wasn't trying to bully them or get something from them. Draco thought about leaving, thinking he shouldn't be there but she interrupted his thoughts.

"Did you really- Did you save me from the dementor?"

Draco's gaze met her watery gaze for a moment before dropping his eyes back down to the pillow. _Always the forward one._ "Yes and no."

"What does that mean? What happened?" Her voice had gotten low again and he took his feet off the other chair and leaned forward so his elbows were resting on his knees.

"I was flying back to the castle after quidditch practice and I... I saw you fell from the Astronomy tower, so I caught you." She was silently crying again and while she cried a lot, he realized he didn't mind it in the same way he did with Pansy. He wanted Hermione to stop, but he wasn't annoyed with her as she had a genuine reason to be a constant mess.

"Why? Why did you bother?" Hermione wiped at her face, knowing she had ugly pink splotches on her pale face but didn't care. "I'm just a mudb-"

"Don't." His tone was serious and when she looked at him, he had an intense stare that crinkled his blonde eyebrows. "I don't-" He breathed deeply through his nose and scratched the back of his neck. It was one thing to think what he was feeling but another thing to say what he was feeling. He wasn't a Gryffindor, he was a Slytherin. They were known for self-preservation in every way. "I didn't want to watch you die." He shrugged as he settled on what he thought was a safe answer. He looked up at her and she looked like she was expecting more of an explanation. "You're a good person... And it's better that you're here, than not." Draco decided that it was all he would give as he wasn't completely comfortable with being so open around her.

When Hermione heard Draco call her a good person she found herself not trusting her ears for a second time since he arrived. Her bully had paid her a compliment and it completely whelmed her as her brain was still saying she belonged in a rubbish bin somewhere. She pulled her knees into her chest and hugged them, resting her nose on her arms. She forced herself to look at him when she spoke again. Hermione knew she wanted to believe what he was saying and she hoped it was the truth. She wanted validation even if the validation came from Draco. "And last year? When the basilisk was terrorizing muggleborns in the castle?"

He looked at her, meeting her gaze. _Eye contact is important, Draco. _His father's voice whispered in his head. _It lets the other party know you're attentive and it makes them trust you, no matter what your intentions may be- always look people in the eye if you want them to hear you. _"I said a lot of stupid things, Granger. Things I thought I meant until... Recently."

Hermione felt her lower lip tremble and buried her face in the space between her knees and chest so he didn't see her face. She hated this feeling of being so weak that she sought validation from someone she didn't consider a friend. She hated that she valued it just the same as she was that broken. Hermione bit her lip trying not to make any noise. She knew it was childish but she tried to pretend he wasn't there to save her from some embarrassment at how she was acting.

After a few moments, Hermione heard Draco stand so she looked up, rubbing the tears and snot from her face with a ragged breath. "When mother came by she brought etiquette books. They're not the most entertaining, but they're better than nothing." His hand rubbed the back of his neck again as looked at her face. She couldn't place what he was feeling but it was better than the unreadable mask she often dealt with when they interacted. She nodded her understanding and they both heard the hospital door open, followed by the loud clack of heels. "I'll be heading out." He tossed the pillow on to the bed before turning to exit.

When he placed a hand on the curtain she spoke. "Will you come back?" Hermione wanted to say that she didn't know why she wanted him to come back but she did. She didn't want to feel alone anymore and the thought of having to deal with anyone else at Hogwarts that was her age made her feel tired. Even Lavender who she knew would only want to talk about magazines, divination or horoscopes. There was something about the Draco that allowed her to feel like she didn't have many expectations to live up to and she figured it was due to the fact he had not just seen her at her worst, but acted as if he hadn't. Hermione never saw pity in his eyes when he looked at her and she appreciated that. He nodded once then disappeared behind the curtain at the same time the sound of heels stopped.

There was a pause before Dr. Augsen came in and sat in the chair Draco had his feet on earlier. Her hair was down and her eyes were completely soft, showing more emotion than she ever had before. It was a new-look that would have disarmed Hermione if she did not feel exposed already. "Hullo." Hermione looked into her therapist's eyes and her throat closed up from embarrassment and shame. _She's going to want me to drop my classes. _"Good afternoon, Dr. Augsen." She didn't want to be sitting in front of Dr. Augsen right now. She thought she should have been dead, which was an alternative she thought she still preferred at the moment.

Dr. Augsen crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lap. "Hermione, if there was something I did wrong or did not pick up on, I-I am so sorry." Dr. Augsen's hands were balled into fists and she looked as if she was in pain when she apologized.

"There wasn't-" Hermione shook her head when her body threatened to collapse into sobs. She cleared her throat and looked at her knees. "You didn't ask me how I am doing this time."

The light comment made Dr. Augsen tilt her head to the side. "I'd imagine after an attempt-"

"There was no attempt." Hermione's voice wavered and she gripped the ring on her necklace, digging the spikes in deeper than she had before. "There was no suicide attempt, if that's what everyone thought happened."

"Hermione, you don't have to lie." Dr. Augsen slipped her hands through the railing to place them on to the bed. She leaned to the side so Hermione could see she was trying to lock eyes with her. "I'm here to help you." Hermione looked up at her and her skin screamed as the ring dug deeper than it had ever had before into her flesh. The pain was grounding and she used it to keep her head above the storm inside of her that wanted to drown her in her own tears. "Listen, I think it's about time you dropped your classes, they're not help-"

Hermione let out a frustrated breath. "I'm not lying Doctor! Stop suggesting I stop taking so many subjects! I can't drop anything until I get through the year with an 'O'! I'm not _allowed _to drop anything!" Hermione hated that she lost the power struggle on staying calm but _it was so hard._ Everything was so hard and she wished it would either stop or get better.

Dr. Augsen's eyebrows came together. "Why do you feel that dropping the class isn't allowed? You said you would if-"

"Because I was never allowed to quit until I proved I was the best." Hermione's lower lip trembled as she spoke and she let out a dry sob before pressing a palm against her face. "My parents wouldn't allow me to quit unless I was the best. I always had to prove it somehow before they would allow me to withdraw from anything I hated. This is something I need to do." Hermione rubbed her sleeve roughly against her face and looked down at her hands. "I know I promised I would drop the classes if _they _were the problem, and they're not. The work keeps me busy."

Dr. Augsen was quiet for a moment, mulling over what Hermione said. It was new information she decided not to discuss it further as she needed to address the main concern she had. "Look at me, please." Her voice was soft and Hermione hesitantly looked into her eyes. "What pushed you to go to the top of Astronomy Tower?" Hermione shook her head just to have an excuse to break the intense eye contact before looking back into her therapist's blue eyes. Hermione read once that semi-truths were the best lies and hoped it was true.

"Ron and I had an argument and I wanted to get away from him. I was up there, but I didn't jump. The dementor caused me to faint." Dr. Augsen maintained her intense look and Hermione felt a slight tickle in her brain. It was the oddest sensation but as soon as it came, it was gone. Hermione resisted the urge to shift her weight. She was trying to think of anything else to help her as she played with her ring again but the only other fact about lying she could think of was keeping her answers short- something she was already doing.

Dr. Augsen blinked as it sunk in that Hermione was telling the truth. "Why were you on the ledge?" Dr. Augsen wondered if her magic was failing her as she and Narcissa were convinced Hermione wanted to off herself. Dr. Augsen didn't need to perform legilimens on Hermione to know if she was lying or not and everything Hermione said was true. Some thing still felt off but she she couldn't pin down what.

"The view was really pretty." Dr. Augsen's head tilted again and Hermione thought it was the wrong thing to say. "I'm afraid of heights, looking down clears my head when I'm at a height." _Both are truths, but not why I was up there- nor does my head clear in a positive way._ Hermione grew more and more nervous as Dr. Augsen continued to stare at her.

Finally Dr. Augsen spoke, with the barest hint of a smile on her lips. "How Gryffindor."

Hermione flashed the hint of one herself but she felt her exhaustion immediately take over again, closely followed by her depression. "I suppose if you believe in that type of thing." Lying had always been exhausting but doing it when she had no energy to spare in the first place left her wanting to sleep for the week. Hermione pulled the covers up to her chin again. "I'm really tired after... after the dementor." Hermione wasn't sure if she was referring to the physical one or the one inside her head. "Would you mind if we talked next session?" Hermione made herself yawn for emphasis and Dr. Augsen stood.

"Of course." Dr. Augsen was confused by her discoveries but felt elated at the news that Hermione did not try to kill herself. She was satisfied for now but would do more probing when they met again on Wednesday. "I'll see you in a few days, Hermione." Hermione nodded as she laid down, and Andromeda couldn't help but noticed how defeated the young girl looked. "I'm happy Draco was there to catch you, you know."

Hermione looked at Dr. Augsen, tears welling in her eyes. "Me, too."

Dr. Augsen knew her magic wasn't failing her then as she felt the familiar tell of heat welling behind her ears when someone lied to her. _Baby steps. So long as she didn't try to kill herself... _Dr. Augsen moved the curtain to the side and started towards the exit, but not before witnessing the blonde head of her nephew slipping out into the hallway, hoping he hadn't been caught eavesdropping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say thank you again for your continued patience.


	19. Year Three: Part VII (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Draco's fist smashed into Crabbe's already bloody face a third time. Then a fourth time. A fifth time. Crabbe fully lost consciousness at the fourth punch due to his weak jaw, but Draco was making a statement to not just him, but to everyone in the main Slytherin common room. Draco pulled his arm back for a sixth punch for good measure, but Pansy's hiccup/ screech combination broke him out of the rhythm he had started to slip into. Draco let go of Crabbe's sweater vest, allowing the bigger boy to fall back with a heavy thud. No one moved when Draco straightened up, not even Goyle who was struggling moments before as Theo and Blaise held him back.

Draco's platinum eyes fell to Goyle and he spoke after a few heavy breaths. "Let him go." They did, and Theo pushed Goyle so he stumbled forward over his long legs like a newborn deer. Draco kept his fists up in case Goyle made to attack him again, but he didn't. Goyle crouched down by Crabbe, warily watching Draco as he tried to get Crabbe to wake up. When it was made obvious to Draco that Goyle had no intention of attacking him, Draco kept his shoulders back and his chin high as his gaze swept over his housemates, challenging any of them to say something or step forward. Most of the crowd had heard what Crabbe had said, and even if they didn't, he wouldn't explain. _Malfoys don't owe anyone an explanation his father would say._

Draco came back from the hospital wing pissed to find that Hermione had left during Sunday's breakfast. Crabbe, had decided then was the best time to try to confront Draco in front of everyone about what he saw in the infirmary Friday night:

_"So our infamous blood-traitor has decided to grace us with his presence." Crabbe had a weak imitation of Draco's confident sneer on his face and Goyle stood behind Crabbe, copying him. "Were you visiting your little pet just now? The one who would be better off dead, but you decided to save her instead? What would your father think?" Draco's face had turned red and he already decided that he was going to have to officially remind Crabbe where he stood._

_Draco strode towards Crabbe, hands in fists, with Theo who immediately dropped the he was reading to join his side. "I thought I told you I wouldn't repeat myself in telling you to stop insulting me or my family you third rate blood purist." Blaise caught up a moment later, whispering to Draco that 'Crabbe wasn't worth it', but Goyle stepped in front of Crabbe and swung at Draco. Theo lunged at Goyle before he could land the blow on Draco, but Crabbe had used Theo's charge as a distraction for him to land his punch on Draco. Thanks to Lucius though, Draco took the punch with ease and quickly gained the upper hand while Blaise helped Theo hold Goyle back._

Reaching his bed, Draco quickly unbuttoned his shirt and threw it into the rubbish bin. He could have magicked the blood stains on his cuff out, but he didn't feel the need to bother when he would just buy another shirt if he needed. He turned to his drawer and pulled out another shirt. As he was buttoning up the shirt, Pansy walked into the room, trying to stifle her sobs but failing. He gave her a dirty look from barging in, and turned his back to her as he finished buttoning the last few buttons of his shirt.

"He's been talking about you the whole morning. Saying you're a disappointment to the Sacred Twenty-Eight." He turned to face her as he started to roll the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows. It was a look he wore often on the weekends, as Hogwarts did not allow students to deform the school uniform when they were in class. His scowl deepened at the fact he chose not to roll up the sleeves this morning, which would have saved him the shirt, but reminded himself that clothes were easily replacable. Pansy had her hands crossed over her chest and a hand over her mouth. "Are you... Are you okay?" He took a moment to scourgify Crabbe's blood from his skin, leaving the area clean as if nothing happened.

"I'm fine, honestly, you're worse off than me." He finished rolling up his second sleeve as he opened a drawer to look for the bruising cream he kept and when he found it, he put a thin layer over the area where Crabbe's fist made contact. Pansy's crying didn't bother him as she whined or cried for everything, and even if it did, he found he wasn't the consoling type. "And what would Crabbe know about being a Pureblood? His family isn't a part of the Twenty-Eight like ours. He's a freaking half-blood." When Draco walked past her to go back down the stairs, he offered a handkerchief. She took it and blew her nose, following him down the steps of the boys dorm.

"Where are you going?" She asked between sniffles and Draco rolled his eyes.

"I need to get out of the dungeons, perhaps the library. Is that ok, mum?" He didn't slow his pace as he continued down the stairs and into the common room. Heads instantly whirled to give him their full attention, already whispering about what had just happened.

"I'll go with you!" She fast walked to maintain the same pace he had.

He nearly stopped and whirled around to tell her where she could go instead, but he needed the other Slytherins to think he was to be respected, not feared because he snapped on everyone who crossed his path. "I don't want company. I want to be left alone."

"You always want to be left alone! Unless you're with Blaise or Theo-" Draco glanced around the room quickly, only using his eyes. _Speaking of, where had those two ran off to?_ Goyle was still on the floor with Crabbe while a seventh year Slytherin practiced their healing magic on him. While the school had Madam Pomfrey to utilize, when it came to inner-house feuds, Slytherin's cleaned up their own mess. Draco used to wonder if it was some secret Slytherin code but he realized over time that it was a learned behavior from how the old pureblood and halfblood families handled things. "You never want to hang out with _me_!" Pansy emphasized the last word with a whine and Draco thought that if students weren't staring at them before, they certainly were now. Draco opened the door and motioned for Pansy to walk in front of him without another word. Her face lightened up and she ran ahead, into the hallway that would lead them into the main dungeons.

Pansy nearly skipped out to the dungeon hall, she was so happy at the thought she was spending time with Draco that she hadn't noticed by the time she got to the staircase leading to the entrance hall, he had disappeared. He dipped into what looked like a regular alcove, but was actually an alternate hallway to another chamber in the dungeons. Draco moved quickly as he wasn't sure if Pansy knew about this hall, and did not want to have to try explaining to her a second time that he did not want to be bothered. To be sure he lost her, he moved through several of the hidden halls and small passage ways of the dungeons before emerging into the east wing of the ground floor. He didn't dare head for the library as he didn't put it past Pansy to actually step foot in there for once, trying to track him down after he ditched her.

He decided to head to the music room and after Draco got past the first two staircases, he stopped looking over his shoulder or trying to be careful. He didn't think Pansy would have thought to go anywhere above the second floor and he rolled his shoulders a few times, trying to relieve the built up tension in them. He was staring at the floor as he walked, his eyes furiously tracing the cracks in the stone as his adrenaline rush from the fight with Crabbe kept him alert, and sightly wired. Draco hoped the after affects of the rush would allow him to have more success when practicing the music pieces he was working on mastering. When he got to the end of the hall, he looked up and saw the gray tapestry in front of the music room door.

Draco made to turn around as he remembered that he wanted to find Theo and Blaise, but closed his eyes instead. He knew it was the tapestry trying to keep him away, but he had come by the music room so many times- even with other students in it- he was able to fight off the magic with some focus. He took a few steps forward, and he was reminded of all the homework he had not yet completed due at the end of the coming week. Draco was halfway to the door when the tapestry reminded him that his original werewolf essay Snape had asked the Defense Against the Dark Arts class to complete was pinned beneath his bed and bed side table. He was distracted for a second by the annoyance that ran through him as he had to rewrite the essay the night before it was due, since he had forgotten where it was. While Lupin said it wasn't needed, however, Snape still expected it from his god-son. When Draco was in front of the door, he could physically feel the magic wanting to push him away. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but he was determined to get into the room, and scare whoever was in the room off so he could have it to himself.

What he did not expect, was Hermione sitting on the floor with the etiquette books he dropped off to her the day before. When Draco opened then slammed the door behind him, she jumped, dropping the face fan she was holding in front of her. "Oh, it's you."

He paused, his annoyance evident on his face as he eyed the fan. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it and shook her head. "Nothing." She had not meant to sound rude but she was miffed he did not go back to the hospital wing yesterday when he said he would visit her again. Hermione told herself he was busy or couldn't get away, and said she would forgive him for not showing up. It was the least she could do when someone had _just _saved her life.

"_Why _are you practicing fan etiquette in a _music _room?" Draco gestured to the walls lined with song books, hymnals, and tune books for the string instruments that were on display and ready to be played around the room. Towards the back of the room, where she sat on the floor, was a Steinway & Sons grand piano.

Hermione picked up the fan from the floor and gripped it, she didn't look at him as she responded. "I snuck up here during breakfast. I didn't want to see Harry or Ron yet."

Draco walked forward, his annoyance thick in his voice as he thought about her disappearing after she asked him to visit her. "Couldn't have sent an owl telling me you were leaving the infirmary?" He walked past her, straight to the piano and sat in front of it. Draco _accio_ed once of the piano sheet music books he often practiced out of. He was usually calm and collected, but his anger from Crabbe and Hermione got the best of him, causing the book to zoom across the room a bit faster than intended. He caught it though and acted like the spine hitting his palm did not bother him, even though it sent pain through his fingers if he tried to flex his hand.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes, her own anger emerging. "You didn't return yesterday so I assumed you did not plan on visiting me at all." She looked him up and down before looking away again. Hermione wondered if Hagrid was in his hut and if she would be able to stay with him for the day. She told herself she could be friendly another day if he was going to act like a prat.

Draco's annoyance eased up along with his tone as he realized she hadn't ditched him, but they misunderstood each other. "I went to the hospital wing today. I didn't think you wanted visitors after your therapist saw you."

Hermione nodded, not knowing what to say next while her anger dissolved. She never imagined that Draco could be so thoughtful, something that was rare from Ron and even more rare from Harry. She closed the fan etiquette book and reached for another book, suddenly feeling self-conscious for practicing something like fan etiquette. She always thought it to be not just fake, as muggle history books claimed the language to be, but asinine.

Draco hoped he had not said too much as he did not want Hemione to know he had eavesdropped on her yesterday. Draco had always hated not knowing things and even though he knew how personal the conversation was going to be, he couldn't help himself as he wanted to understand her more if they were going to choose to be friends. Friends- it was a topic he did want to bring up and make sure they were clear on. Both of them had expressed they did not want to be friends before, but their actions spoke differently, which made him think of something; "Did you drop the fan on purpose when I came in?" Draco lifted the keyboard cover on the piano as his eyes flicked over to where she was sitting, one eyebrow raised curiously. He was forced to study fan etiquette too when he was younger, as purebloods found it to be a relevant form of communication at parties. Draco just thought that most wizards looked stupid as they did not have much grace when using their fans.

"No." Hermione looked over to him, a questioning look on her face. "Does dropping your fan mean something?"

"No," He said quickly, causing Hermione to raise her eyebrows and reach for the fan etiquette book again, obviously not believing him. _Shite, ofcourse it was an accident. _He tried to think of other ways to distract her as she flipped through the book. He knew she would read the book and find the meaning eventually but he didn't want her to tease him on reading too far into things, _now_. "Fan etiquette of all things though? I would think you would need to study how to waltz properly or-"

"What makes you think I can't dance?" She looked back at him, slightly offended and the book temporarily forgotten.

Draco grinned at her as he accioed another piano sheet music book, this one flying at a regular speed. He thumbed through it, hardly paying attention to the titles as he flipped through the pages with his thumb. "I've heard muggles don't throw parties like we do so I imagine you have as much grace in a ballroom as you do on a broom." Hermione snorted and closed the book, plopping it on to the stack of books in front of her. _Yes! _Draco thought as he turned his attention to the titles in the musical book in front of him.

Hermione turned so she was facing him while she sat on the floor. It was no secret that she hated flying, when Madam Hooch came back after escorting Neville to Madam Pomfrey first year, she nearly hurled in front of the whole class when they tried flying again. "Do wizards not have 'regular' parties? Are they always galas or balls?"

Draco shrugged one shoulder. "At least for purebloods it is."

"So you've had a _gala _thrown for you every year for your birthday?" Hermione had an astonished look on her face, imagining a ballroom filled with steamers and balloons every year.

Draco made a face himself thinking about the people who appeared at the galas his parents threw or attended. They all smoked, bathed in their perfumes and laughed too loudly after drinking more than they should. He would have loved being the center of attention of a gala but doubted his father wouldn't use the gathering as an excuse to invite his allies and colleagues over to discuss business. "No, that's absurd. We usually travel."

"Oh." Hermione didn't know what to say to that and an awkwardness that they both had been avoiding settled over them. She felt as if there was an elephant in the room that neither of them were wanting to fully address yet. Hermione played with the hem of her jeans as she thought about what to say next. A thought crossed her mind and she almost dismissed it. It was a subject she had already approached with Harry and Ron, but they would have thought she was crazy if she would have said anything more about it. _Worst he can do is call me a loon but..._ She thought back to when he found her in the Malfoy owlery over the summer. _He already has._

Before she could stop herself she blurted out a question to test the waters: "Did you do the werewolf essay?"

Draco placed the music book on the piano's music rack, deciding to play Rêverie by Debussy, before raising an eyebrow at her. "You want to talk about homework?" He had the tendency to get a little self-conscious when playing in front of other people and usually eased himself into playing the more difficult songs. He knew from experience that playing something soft would help him get used to playing with a mildly injured hand.

Draco played the first few notes and Hermione's attention shifted to the piano, completely surprised by what she was hearing. _He plays so delicately... I didn't even know he played piano. _ Hermione couldn't help but listen for a few seconds before mentally shaking herself. If she learned anything from Dr. Augsen, it's that talking about things on her mind was an effective outlet, but this wasn't something she was able to approach someone from the Ministry about. Hermione almost let her distraction drop the subject as she feared Draco's rejection, but she reminded herself that the Malfoys had all seen parts of her no one else had, and she thought it silly to be scared when she considered it from a logical standpoint- at least when talking to Draco. She wouldn't want Narcissa to think she belonged in St. Mungo's. _Plus... Lucius seemed to know something about Lupin that Draco might know._ She strongly doubted it but she allowed herself to be entertained by the idea to gain courage from it.

"I think Professor Lupin is a werewolf." She said it softly as she was nearly entranced by the calming music of Debussy but Draco heard her regardless.

When she said 'werewolf', Draco's fingers slipped and hit three of the wrong keys, forcing him to come to a stop so abrupt her body gave a slight jerk and she looked up at him. He had thought the same thing about the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher but told no one, except Snape, as he knew how he would sound. The only reason why the idea was brought up to Snape was due to the fact that Snape started to ask questions about who Draco thought might have fit the description of a werewolf. Draco didn't say any of this though as he was still in shock from her mirroring his suspicions. "What?"

Hermione's emotions seemed to have caught up with her brain as she started to ramble in the panic that was filling her, ticking off each reason with her fingers. "Well, His boggart- it's the moon, you know. I thought it was a crystal ball at first, but that didn't make sense to me. Harry saw him drink a potion once that fit the description of Wolfsbane. I have a lunar chart from Divination and he's always absent-"

"Around the full moon." Draco had kept track of the chart himself and Lupin was always 'sick' the week of the full moon. It was rather obvious after he realized it and was happy he wasn't the only one who noticed. Draco wondered if Snape had wanted all of the third years to come to the same conclusion about Lupin.

Hermione's eyes widened as she leaned forward. "Did you realize it too?"

Draco looked into her big, doe eyes, bright with something he recognized as excitement. Draco wondered why he never thought her to be pretty before. With eyes like that, it was easy to look past her wild hair and buckteeth. Surprised at his own thoughts, he looked back to the music sheet instead, not wanting to look at her anymore in case anymore unsettling thoughts arose. "I did." Draco focused on the music again and started to play where he left off. When she didn't reply almost a minute afterwards, he risked a glance at her and saw she was sniffling quietly while she pressed the balls of her palms into her eyes. He wasn't immediately annoyed like he was with Pansy, but he was hesitant to say anything and kept playing.

After a while, his curiosity got the better of him again. "Why are you crying?" He wasn't sure if he should stop playing so he didn't in case she did not respond and the awkwardness settled again. It was a good call as she didn't respond until he turned the page and started to play 'Clair de Lune' by Debussy.

"I'm just happy I wasn't the only one to think so. I tried to tell Harry and Ron, but they wouldn't hear it." He glanced at her then and was relieved to see she stopped crying although her nose was the slightest bit pink. "They haven't spoken to me really since Christmas. The handful of times they did, we ended up yelling at each other and..." Her voice wavered, but she took a deep and shakey breath to collect herself. "They're my only friends. It hurts so much right now though that I don't even want to forgive them."

Draco had gotten halfway through the song, and started the part that required him to focus on the more complex notes. He appreciated that he had something to do as he listened as he wasn't good with being compassionate. "So don't. I don't see why you have to when they treated you so poorly." He didn't bring up the obvious fact that they were adding more stress after her parents had _died._ Draco heard Hermione shift her weight on the wood floor but he remained focused on the keys of the piano until the song looped into the beginning melody again. He thought carefully about what to say next as this was his opportunity to verify she wanted to be friends too. "And you have me," He glanced at her, and saw she was staring at him. "I think one of me makes up for the two of them any day."

Hermione didn't say anything so he finished the song before looking at her. He was frustrated that she had not laughed or responded to his attempt at faux arrogance, but saw her smiling mischievously when he looked up at her. "Are you saying we're friends, Malfoy?"

Draco was caught off guard by her smile and turned a page in the music book. He tried to make himself look as bored and disinterested as possible. "If you wanted. I believe it was you who first said you wanted to act as if nothing had changed when we returned to Hogwarts." Draco watched her head dip from his peripheral and regretted bringing up summer. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, you're right. It's fine." She looked up at him, the smile back on her face, but not as big as it was before. Hermione picked up the fan with her left hand half opening it in front of her face: _I desire your acquaintance._ Then she dropped it again, revealing her grin on her face: _We will be friends._ Draco hoped the heat that rose to his face didn't cause too red of a blush tipping her off to his embarrassment.

"You knew what it meant!" He crossed his arms over his chest but he was smiling.

"I didn't, I just happened to find the meaning when I flipped through the pages the second time." She ran both her hands over her head still smiling. Draco shook his head and positioned his hands to continue playing, but he stopped when she stood and walked over to his side. "I do have one request though." Draco narrowed his eyes, suspicious of what she wanted. "Stop playing Debussy, it's making me more depressed." They both gave a small laugh that wasn't as awkward as either of them expected it to be.

Draco moved over on the piano bench so she could sit next to him. She bit her lip contemplating sitting down before she did. "Why were you sitting on the floor? There are chairs everywhere in this room." Draco removed the music book off of the rack and looked through the first book he accioed over as she looked around the room again. He was right, there were chairs with almost every instrument around the enormous room. She wondered if the other three music rooms were this big.

"I'm just used to it. I don't know why but at home-" She paused as she felt her chest tighten from talking about her childhood home. "Where I- The place where-" _Am I still allowed to call it that if I live at the manor? Is the Manor my home?_ She still didn't know.

"I know what you're trying to say. Go on." He didn't look up from the book as he pretended to be considering the Mozart piece in front of him. Instead, he used his other senses to assess her reaction. He listened to her breathing and any felt the air between them for any movements she made.

Hermione was grateful for Draco's relaxed attitude, as it allowed her to breath and think properly. He didn't treat her as if she was a crystal piece that was teeter tottering on the edge of a shelf, threatening to break- even after he saved her life. "When mum, dad, and I would spend time together in our living room, it didn't matter if I was watching the tele, reading, or listening to music- I somehow always ended up on the floor. It was just comfortable for me. Dad used to call me his little cabbage because of it."

Hermione had a sad smile on her face, but Draco didn't notice it as he buried his face in the music book, trying to stop his shoulders shaking with mirth from attempting to hold his laugh in as he thought of the French nickname. "_Mon petite chou_?"

"Yes, actually." Her voice was flat and Draco stopped laughing immediately. He removed the book from his face to see her face was pink with annoyance.

He made a face as he chastised himself again. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine. It was silly." Hermione felt herself closing herself off. She wasn't sure if she wanted to stop talking to Draco, but her depression didn't give her a choice. She rubbed her arm, and looked at the pile of books she left on the floor. "I should go. Lunch will be starting soon and I hardly ate the food I was given this morning." Another partial lie, she didn't eat it at all. Hermione stood up and picked up the books from the floor.

Draco watched quietly, panicking, knowing he messed up again. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out as memories of Lucius flooded his mind.

_Lucius pulled on Draco's collar rather roughly for a six year old. Draco had been wanting to run after one of his father's peacocks, but had been stopped. "Malfoy men don't chase after anyone or anything, Draco. Chasing is for the under classed. You're not a dreg are you?" Young Draco had shook his head in response and Lucius stuck his nose in the air as Narcissa fixed Draco's collar. "That's right, you're part of the elite." They continued walking, with Draco silently sulking as he watched the peacocks around him._

Hermione was more than half way to the door and Draco sat there watching, shame filling him and confusing him with what he was taught was right. "Wait."

_"I admit a lot of the things I taught you or the ways I did teach you things were not the greatest." Lucius paced Draco's room, having a conversation that was both an apology, but not an apology. _It was a memory from the winter holiday that Draco had thought about a lot until his head hurt. He did not understand his father's change in behavior or attitude towards him or Hermione._ "It was wrong of me to ask you to make her miserable when she's hardly in the right mindset. I know you can't just return to Hogwarts with her as friends- not that I'm asking you to be friends with her-" Lucius made a disgusted face. "But don't overwhelm her if you can help it."_

Draco realized that was one piece of advice his father passed along to him that he felt he could trust- he shouldn't overwhelm her or suffocate her in any situation. "Will you come back after lunch?"

Hermione dropped her eyes to the floor. "No, there's work I should be starting and it's in the common room." She didn't know why she lied or why she was leaving. Maybe it was due to how easy it was to talk to him about her parents or how she realized that her supposed-to-be nemesis is now a new ally. It scared her and made her think about things she had been avoiding. She looked up at him and was surprised to see him look a little worried. "Another time though." Hermione closed the door behind her and Draco turned back to the piano, putting his head in his hands causing his elbows to press into keys, sounding the frustration he aimed at himself.

_Always messing things up. _Draco withdrew his wand and checked the time, confirming a suspicion about her leaving, lunch wasn't for another hour and a half. He wondered if she still wanted to be friend's after he laughed, but reminded himself that worrying about something he could not fix right now would result in nothing but continued stress.

So Draco turned back to the piano and started to play, using the piano as he often did as a way to sort out his thoughts.

———————————————

A week. Blaise wanted Draco to wait a week before approaching Hermione if she did not come to him first.

Draco vented to a perceptive Blaise and a sulking Theo the following day during potions about what had happened. He knew Blaise was more of a social butterfly than him and hoped he would have advice on what to do next. Theo wasn't fond of the idea of befriending a muggle born, but so long as he did not interfere with Draco's choices, Draco would not interfere with his. Draco, however, didn't expect the advice from Blaise to be _waiting. _It was difficult having most of the classes with her, and not being able to say anything, more so than before they agreed to be friends. Especially since he was willing to approach her anyway, but she was always surrounded by other Gryffindors- specifically Lavender and Parvarti. Draco hoped she would not go back to Harry and Ron, but was confused why the two female Gryffindors acted as her guard. He finally got his answer midday Thursday when both Harry and Ron tried to chase Hermione to talk to her, but Parvarti blocked them both while Lavender ran up the stairs with Hermione to their Divination class.

"You don't get to ignore her for two months then harass her when she refuses to accept your sorry excuse for apologies!"

"But we-" Ron started but Parvarti turned her full attention on him, shutting him up. Draco thought about chiming in but he had never seen the usually giggly, but quiet witch so bothered before, causing him to remain quiet.

The slender Indian was nearly as tall as Ron and had a temper that was as bad as his it seemed. "Twice you embarrassed her in our common room! Twice! Over a broom and a rat who couldn't even carry a message! After her parents died this summer? What kind of friends are you? I would never do any of that to Lavender!"

Draco couldn't help but grin ear to ear at how miserable Ron and Harry both looked as they hung their heads, following Parvarti to their Divination class. It was refreshing to see Harry be yelled at by someone in his house, instead of being praised.

Friday came along and Draco was back to wondering if Hermione was ever going to approach him when she sat next to him in Arithmancy that morning after breakfast. He looked over at her in surprise as there was another desk with Terry Boot still available, but quickly looked forward. Draco often sat with Theo in the back of Arithmancy, but Theo seemed to be running late. Draco crossed his arms on to the desk and laid on them, "What are you doing here?"

"I can't sit next to my friend?" Hermione looked down at him. She had been worried herself on if he hated her for running out on him, but she needed to be alone at that moment. It frustrated her that one day she was a blubbering mess for feeling as if she had no one, but the next day she insisted on being alone. Hermione wanted to approach Draco during the week, but she either had Pavarti and Lavender with her, Ron and Harry trying to corner her, or Draco had Pansy or Flint by his side.

"Are we friends?" He knew he sounded accusatory, but keeping people at arms length is what he had been taught. "Don't you have that Patil twin and her girlfriend- Lilac or something?"

Hermione glanced at Professor Vector at the front of the room, who was writing on the chalkboard on what their lesson for the day would cover, something she did before she started her lecture. When she saw that she still had time to speak she gave Draco a skeptical look. "I find it hard to believe that you don't know Pavarti _or _Lavender's names when you've had classes with them since we first year." He didn't say anything as he wanted her to address the other half of his statement. She huffed as she looked at the desk, somewhat sad. "And I don't think they see me as a friend. They're kind and have helped me in situations but... It's not exactly the same as a regular friendship. I think they believe I'm more a project for them to work on."

"Oh." Draco understood the feeling. Daphe had made him feel like that from time to time, especially since her little sister Astoria, started this year. It was aggrevating more than anything as he hated the feeling of not being seen. "I suppose I could make an exception for you to being a friend."

"You 'suppose'?" She had a smirk on her face and her eyes twinkled at him. "I think one of me makes up for Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson any day." Theo slunk into the room at that moment and was completely surprised to see Hermione in his seat. He glanced at Draco who gave the slightest shrug with one shoulder. Theo rolled his eyes and sat down next to Terry, dropping his bag with a loud thud. Professor Vector turned around and gave him a warning look for his attitude before turning back to the chalk board. "And maybe one of Theo, too. Not Blaise though." Hermione had Blaise to thank for distracting Theo in conversation so she could get to Arithmancy before him and take his seat by Draco. Hermione wasn't sure if it was intentional, but when she looked back while she was rushing to class, she saw Blaise wink at her.

"Not Blaise?" Draco bit the inside of his cheek so he could control the smile on his face.

"No. Blaise is alright. Not as much fun as a Gryffindor, but close." Hermione grinned as she removed parchment and a quill from her bag.

"_'Not as much fun?_'" Draco wasn't sure if Hermione was joking or not. "Are you having a lau-"

"Mr. Malfoy, would you like to teach the lesson today?" Professor Vector interrupted him as she turned to face the class, hands on her hips like they often were, even when she was in a good mood.

"No, professor." He straightened his posture so he was no longer slouching on the desk. "Forgive me, ma'am."

Professor Vector nodded then started her lecture. Hermione nor Draco made a move to communicate until they were working on problems from their text book after the lecture. Draco slide over a piece of parchment with a question on it:

_Music room later?_

Hermione thought for a second before writing her reply. Should she tell him she was working on Buckbeak's trial? She was always taught to put her best foot forward when making decisions, but that did not mean she had to trust him. The first time he suggested they should hang out was when he was trying to steal her wand.

_I'm working on something for Hagrid due tonight._

Draco scrunched up is face, wondering what Hagrid would want done as he never gave out homework. He thought back to their classes together and didn't remember Hagrid mentioning anything to the class, but it was possible he gave the golden trio a special task. If Draco didn't have to work with Harry, Ron or Hagrid, he wouldn't mind assisting her.

_What is it? Maybe I can help?_

Hermione bit her lip as she thought about his offer. _What am I doing? He saved my life, I should be able to trust him._

_It's for Buckbeaks's trial. I'm helping Hagrid build a defense._

Draco's reply came much faster than his others:

_I'd really like to help then, library later?_

Hermione risked looking over at him, smiling and nodded. With a flick of his wand, a small flame consumed the parchment before he vanished the ashes it left behind.

———————————————————

Draco took his time after classes today going to the library. While he wanted to be friends with Hermione, he didn't want to seem overly eager to hang out with her, as interesting as he found her. He realized though when he got to the library, they should have at least determined _where _in the library they should meet up as he was unsure where her usual spot was. He walked past Madam Pince and the study tables that were mostly empty as students were still wondering what to do now that the day school day was over until they could go to the next Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. He didn't see Hermione in one of the open tables which he was grateful for. They hadn't discussed it, but the last thing either of them needed was the whole student body knowing about them becoming chums all of a sudden.

Draco walked past the many aisles with books, the first few aisles had a few of the younger years in them but it quickly became completely deserted the further he walked. He almost went down an aisle leading to the other side of the library, thinking she would not have been so far in to the library, until he until he heard books slamming and voices coming from behind the restricted section. Draco, being the busybody he was, slipped into the restricted section and into an aisle he was positive was right on the other side of the arguing party. With the books being in their special, gated shelves, he couldn't see the other side but he could hear them clearly trying to keep their voices down and failing.

"You can't stay mad at us!" The voice was male and familiar, but Draco couldn't put his finger on it.

"And why not?" Draco knew the suppressed, shrilly voice to be Hermione's even if the books between them kept her voice muffled. "I'm not allowed to ignore you for months like you did me?"

"Because we tried apologizing to you, 'Mione!" It was another male voice, and by the cadence of it he recognized it to be Ron's. Draco knew that if Ron was there, the other male voice had to be Harry. "I only wanted for you to apologize for Scabbers and admit that Crookshanks-"

"Where you going to admit that you and Harry were shoving Crookshanks into cabinets when I wasn't looking?" Draco's eyes widened at that. "So not only did I have to wait until March for you to talk to me, you were being cruel to an innocent cat?"

"That's not fair, we've tried talking to you since Sunday-" Ron interrupted, his determination wavering, and Draco rolled his eyes.

Hermione continued as if Ron had not spoke. "Tell me," Hermiones voice shook and Draco recognized she was going to start crying again. "If I hadn't fallen off Astronomy Tower Saturday, would you be trying to apologize?" Draco winced at that even though the question was not at him and he inched closer to the shelf waiting to hear their answer.

Neither Harry nor Ron spoke for a moment. Draco could hear Hermione's sniffling as she waited. When one of the boys spoke, it was Harry. "What were you doing at the top of Astronomy Tower?"

Hermione went completely silent for a second before a sob escaped._ Idiots._ "Get out."

"'Mione-"

"I said. Go. Away. I don't want to talk to either of you. I don't have to accept your apologies." Draco felt like he could hear the dams in her voice that were trying to hold back the floodgate of tears her body wanted to cry.

"Please talk-" Ron tried again but there was the sound of a book slamming loudly."

"Go away before I start yelling for Madam Pince!" Almost immediately, Draco heard the foot steps of Harry and Ron retreating down the aisle and Draco had only a few seconds to press himself into the shelf and hope they didn't notice him as they passed by. They didn't due to them both keeping their heads low as they rushed out, whispering to each other.

With her two housemates gone, Hermione burst into heart wrenching sobs, but she sounded as if she was trying to muffle the sounds in her robe sleeves. Draco stood there for a moment, debating if he should go around the corner and make his presence known or if he should act as if he stood her up. He hated having to deal with Pansy's crying, and there was always the possibility of Hermione not wanting anyone to be around her like last Saturday. Draco looked up at the high ceiling of the library, letting his head hit the books behind him. Draco knew he couldn't treat Hermione like he would Pansy and he knew if it was Pansy in hysterics for any of her usual reasons, he would walk away. He stood there for a moment, trying to ignore her sobs as he collected what courage he had and walked around the shelf.

Hermione was seated at the chair closest to the wall and window, borderline hyperventilating as she couldn't breath properly through her robe sleeves. Draco walked over to her and cast _muffliato._ "No one will be able to hear us with that charm." Draco didn't want Hermione to feel like she was disrupting the library with her crying and used a plural pronoun instead of a singular one.

Hermione immediately removed her arm from her mouth as a wail escaped her throat, causing Draco to wince at the loud sound. Hermione tried apologizing for scaring him, but her breathing patterns were too abnormal, "I'm so-so, s-s-s, sor," Draco watched her for a moment before he grabbed her hands as they started to wave wildly in front of her.

Draco had seen one of her panic attacks before and hoped what is mother taught him would work. "Hermione, you need to take even breaths." Hermione looked up at Draco suddenly, with her eyes wide and forced her body to listen. It took a few failed attempts, but she was able to get the hang of breathing in and out properly. "That's good." Draco let go of her hands and Hermione watched them return to his side of the desk. Suddenly unsure of what to do with his hands, he picked up a book that she had piled next to her, _Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality._

He flipped open to the table of contents, looking for a chapter that looked like a promising starting point when she finally spoke. "You called me Hermione." Draco looked up at her then, then out of the window, not wanting to meet her intense stare. He thought back to what he just did and realized he had called her that on accident. "And you didn't wipe your hands off after touching me like you usually do."

Draco glanced back at her then out the window again, suddenly interested in the grime building up in the corner of the glass. He liked being the center of attention, but not _this _kind of attention. "Am I not allowed?" He refused to bring up that they agreed to be friends, in the event she thought about Ron and Harry again, causing her to cry harder.

"Only if I can't call you by your first name." He looked up at her and she gave a weak smile. Her face was red and blotchy but he liked how long her dark eyelashes were when wet. It was a weird thing to notice when she was emotionally distraught and an even weirder thing for him to think. "Would that be alright, Draco?"

Hearing his name come from her was something else he found weird but he didn't shy away from the fact that he liked it. He would try to suppress his other thoughts except that one. "I suppose that would be fine." He gave her a smile and she grabbed the other book she had, playfully smacking his arm with it. She gave a small laugh which he followed up with a weak one.

Hermione opened up the book she had along with the parchment on the desk to start taking notes. Draco thought about telling her then he hated being hit, even when horsing around, but hardly found the moment appropriate. Instead he allowed the only sound to come from either of them were their quills on the parchment, as they took notes until the sun had set and there was no more candle light to burn- forcing them to go to the main hall for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rêverie by Debussy: https://youtu.be/_CUC2-S1NMI
> 
> Clair de Lune by Debussy: https://youtu.be/WNcsUNKlAKw
> 
> BONUS:
> 
> The Mozart Piece Draco considered playing (Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, K. 310 (1st Movement): https://youtu.be/n68f_Oh2N1k


	20. Year Three: Part VIII (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all my readers who don't have a Valentine today:
> 
> I'm your Valentine. (Happy Valentine's Day to all :))
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"How are you, Hermione?" Dr. Augsen had her legs crossed and her hands resting off of the arms of the chair- Her quill and notepad ready to take notes in the air next to her.

"I'm fine." Hermione ran her hands over the tops of her jeans.

"Just fine? I heard you had a rather exciting week."

Hermione looked up at Dr. Augsen, her face completely unreadable past the polite smile on her lips. It annoyed Hermione. "I'm fine _ now_."

The therapist chuckled. "You started a fight with another student and dropped a class after causing a scene with a teacher. I'd imagine you would feel better _ now _." Dr. Augsen teased Hermione, her tone implied she was expecting an explanation for her behavior.

"Both of them deserved it!" Hermione retorted immediately.

Dr. Augsen's quill scribbled into the notepad. "I'd like to talk about it then and why you felt they deserved it." Hermione inhaled through her nose then let it out at once. Hermione toyed with the ring on her finger as she spoke. "Last Saturday was the day of Buckbeak's trial- Buckbeak is the Hippogriff that attacked Draco- and he lost."

"I remember you mentioning you put a substantial amount of hours into a defense for Buckbeak." Dr. Augsen sympathized.

"I did! And Goyle had the nerve to make fun of Ha- _ Professor _ Hagrid while he was talking to me about it." Hermione had confided in to Dr. Augsen about helping Hagrid, but made sure to word her explanations in a way that their relationship seemed like any other one she had with her professors. "Goyle called him pathetic, Doctor." Hermione didn't mention Hagrid's crying or that Goyle said he was blubbering- a word she was surprised he used correctly.

"And you felt physical violence was necessary?" Dr. Augsen somehow managed to ask the question casually which made Hermione unsure how to respond at first.

She thought back to running up to Goyle, her right arm reaching up to pull him down while her left palm smacked him. The sound of her palm meeting his cheek was oddly satisfying, and she would have smacked him a second time if Ron hadn't grabbed her wrist. She then yelled at Ron and tried to ignore that it also felt good to surprise everyone in her class as she was only known to be confrontational with her studies. While she was on her way back to the common room, she had witnessed Draco's exaggerated reenactment of the scene, causing her to laugh when he thought he only had the eyes of his fellow Slytherin's on him. In all honesty, she thought it was warranted.

"It wasn't necessary," Hermione replied carefully. "But he deserved it. I understand it may have been wrong."

Dr. Augsen nodded, satisfied with the answer. With what she, Narcissa and Lucius had planned she couldn't completely hold it against Hermione on confronting Goyle, especially when Hermione seemed aware it was not the best course of action. "And what about Professor Trelawney?"

Hermione sighed. While she knew smacking Goyle may have been an over reaction, she almost wished she had done the same to Professor Trelawney. "Divination is a waste of time and Professor Trelawney ought to be sacked."

Dr. Augsen's head cocked to the side. "What happened to make you say that?"

Hermione closed her eyes and took a another deep breath, trying to calm the anger she felt rising. Hermione felt that with each passing day she had became angrier and angrier. The day she attacked Goyle and dropped Divination had been a bit of a breaking point for her as she was able to let out a bit of steam. When she opened her eyes, she recounted the Divination class.

_ Hermione mentally kicked herself for allowing herself to be distracted by Goyle to the point she headed to the common room for a nap, completely forgetting about Professor Flitwick's Charm's lesson. Then she berated herself for feeling guilty about snapping at Harry and Ron when they woke her up in the common room to inform her she missed the lesson. They were trying to be nice to her, when they got the chance to be close enough to her, but she was still livid on how her "best friends" had treated her for the past four months. Falling off the Astronomy Tower had opened her eyes to that and she vowed that she would not allow herself to be treated like that again. Her mother would have been livid to see she hadn't had the self-respect to stand up to them sooner._

_ Hermione had reached the ladder leading up to the classroom. As always, the room was hot and stuffy, having too much frankincense and sage burning to be comfortable or calming. _ I just need to finish the year with an 'O' and I will never take this waste of a class again. _ Hermione didn't care she was ten minutes late because she was profusely apologizing to Professor Flitwick for missing the lesson on Cheering Charms, but she did care that the only open seat was next to Harry and Ron. Hermione glanced over to where Parvati and Lavender sat, apologetic looks on their faces as Neville had decided to take his seat with them. _

_ Ron immediately leaned into her, seeing the unfortunate seating as an opportunity to get into her good graces, but she held up a finger. "Professor Trelawney is talking."_

_ He sighed, and gave her a pleading look, "You don't care, you hate this class-"_

_"Shh!" Hermione hushed him then turned back to Trelawney. "I knew you would be late! I had saved the most important part for last to make sure you would be present to hear it, dear!" It physically hurt Hermione not to roll her eyes and she forced herself to keep the pleasant smile on her face as she eyed her least favorite professor. Hermione's parents would have dubbed the woman to be what they called a 'Naff Nutter', with her magenta scarf worn as a head band with dingy lime green robes. Hermione wouldn't of had judged the woman so harshly, and would have settled for calling her a quack seer. "The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice, so we will no longer be practicing palmistry."_

What an amazing prediction! 'The fates have informed her.' SHE is the one who set the exam! _ Hermione snorted in her head- or at least she thought she did. She didn't realize it may have been out loud until she noticed Trelawney blink several times at her though her coke bottle glasses. Hermione glanced over at Harry and Ron who were both looking at her, too, trying not to laugh. Hermione acted as if she didn't notice, allowing Professor Trelawney to continue. _

_"Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art," Hermione hated that the professor insisted on using a dreamy tone. It was completely fake and drove her up the wall. "I do not expect any of you to See when you first peer into the Orb's infinite depths. We shall start practicing by..."_

_ When the last of Trelawney's instruction was over, Hermione opened up her copy of _ Unfogging the Future. _ Partially to read further instruction on how she may be able to get something out of the glass sphere in front of her, partially to ignore Harry and Ron further. It was working, as fifteen minutes later, Harry turned to Ron without speaking a word to Hermione. "See anything yet?"_

_"Yeah, there's a burn on this table," Ron said pointing. "Someone's split their candle." Hermione felt her mouth twitch wanting to laugh, but did not want to say anything. She put the book closer to her face to hide her attempts at stamping down on her urge to laugh. _

_ Another five minutes passed by and Harry spoke again, "I'm starting to see something, Ron." Hermione looked over her book in disbelief and watched the two boys lean into the crystal ball. "I keep seeing 'This is stupid' drift across it." Harry and Ron laughed again, glancing at Hermione who had used the book to as a cover again, this time to hide her grin. _

_ Hermione then dropped the book on to the desk, using action to cover up another action. "This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed, moving her face closer to the orb so they didn't think she was trying to make conversation with them. "I could be practicing something useful-"_

_ Professor Trelawney rustled over to them, her electric blue skirt an obvious trip hazard. "Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?" Her bangles clinked loudly and Hermione felt the urge to roll her eyes again. _

_"I don't need help," Ron replied. When she took a few steps away, he thought it was safe enough to whisper behind her back. "It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight."_

_ Ron and Harry laughed and Hermione bit the inside of her cheek hard, but her lips still betrayed her as they split into a grin. She missed them, but Godric, she was too hurt to forgive them. _

_"Now really!" Said Professor Trelawney as everyone's heads turned in their directions. Parvati and Lavender both frowning as they disagreed with Hermione's view on Divination- something that made sitting with them in class very hard as they were all aggravated by the end of the lesson, trying to be too polite to bicker. "You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!" This time Hermione did not stop herself from rolling her eyes as Trelawney approached their table again, bending to peer into their crystal ball. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose as she silently prayed for the first time in years to have the strength to get through the rest of the lesson. Hermione caught a whiff of something that smelled familiar but was hard to place though the incense thick air. "There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered, lowering her face to the ball, so that it was reflected twice in her huge glasses. "Something moving... but what is it?"_

_ Hermione leaned in, feigning interest in the orb while trying to get a better sniff of the smell coming off her professor. Hermione was annoyed not just by Trelawny but the fact she knew the smell and could pin point it immediately. Hermione looked over at Harry, and she saw a worried expression on his face. Even if Harry hadn't talked to her about it openly, she knew he was concerned about 'the Grim' that he had mentioned multiple times through out the year. She imagined that Trelawney also noticed this, and extorted his fear all year. It was similar to the same tactics muggle magicians would use in big crowds and fueled Hermione's distaste for Trelawney. Hermione's protective nature kicked in again, despite her anger and hurt, as she watched their professor with narrowed eyes. _

_"My dear..." Hermione watched Trelawney's bug-like eyes flicker up at Harry. _ If you mention the grim one more time... _ Hermione swore in her head. "It is here, plainer than ever before... my dear, stalking towards you," Harry's eyes widened even more, "Growing ever closer... The Gri-"_

_ Hermione realized what the smell was at that moment as Trelawney labored her breathing to come off as more dramatic. Her mother was not a heavy drinker, but when she did, she always drank Sherry. With the realization that Trelawney was not only a fake seer who was taking advantage of Harry's angst, but a possible drunk, she snapped. "Oh for goodness' sake!" Said Hermione loudly. "Not that ridiculous Grim again! You keep talking about Harry getting hurt, or dying, but have you ever stopped to think that he doesn't need to hear your grotty, cocked up predictions?"_

_ The room was completely silent like it was when Hermione challenged Professor Lupin at the beginning of the year with his practical lesson on boggarts. Trelawney straightened up, keeping her enormous eyes on Hermione, but Hermione's firm comportment did not waver. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Lavender glaring in her direction after whispering to Parvati. Hermione realized that Trelawney had the look of unmistakable anger and wanted to grin at breaking the professor's dramatically airy facade. Hermione didn't know how she felt about taking pleasure in that, but didn't focus on it as she waited for Trelawney to react. _

_"I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this class, my dear," Trelawney said the word with a sneer, "it has been apparent that you do not have the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane." Trelawney started to walk back to the front of the room before stopping and turning around to face a bewildered Hermione. "It's a shame really. I hoped to help you predict anymore tragedy's that are bound to happen in your life."_

_ Before Harry and Ron could finish their gasp, Hermione stood, hands on the table in front of her, barely registering the scent of burnt wood. "Excuse me?!" Professor Trelawney's already big eyes seemed to become bigger as she stared at the table. Hermione took no notice though as her fury made her tunnel visioned. "Before you talk about other people's tragedy's perhaps you should address the one that leaves your breath smelling of Sherry, Professor." Trelawney's jaw dropped as Hermione stuffed her copy of Unfogging the Future into her bag. Hermione now noticed the two hand prints now burnt into the wood, but refused to stop. Hermione recognized that her body was moving based off of her emotions of anger and if she tried to stop now the rest of her emotions were going to crash down on her. She didn't turn around until she had kicked open the exit for the trap door to go down the ladder. "And in case the fates don't inform you, I'm dropping this bloody class!"_

_Hermione looked up at Doctor Augsen after finishing her story. Hermione was hesitant to mention the hand prints she left in the table, but knew it was an issue waiting to be addressed. She wanted to act like she hadn't noticed this before, but after the panic attack she had over dropping a class- something she never dreamed of doing- she thought about it. Her hands got "weird" when she was overwhelmed and it happened since the murders in France. It happened at the manor, on the quidditch pitch, everywhere. What seemed to calm it was playing with her wand as it was made to conduct magic, but even that had its limit on helping. _

"How does dropping Divination make you feel?" _ Of course. Dr. Augsen wasn't going to address my lack of control immediately. _

Hermione grabbed the ring on her necklace. "I feel some relief at not having to force myself into something I find to be a waste of time. I do feel like a failure though. It's like I- like I broke a promise." Hermione's eyes watered, but she told herself she wouldn't cry. The only other option was to talk to Dumbledore, redact everything she said as she demanded she be taken out of the class, and go back to Divination. Possibly having to give an apology to Trelawney and her non-exsistant 'fates.'

"You mentioned before that you weren't allowed to quit anything unless you succeeded in it. Do you think that is why you are holding yourself to such high expectations?"

Hermione was aware that Dr. Augsen knew the answer already, but asked to have Hermione say it out loud. "Yes, I do. Mum served in the military, you know." The healer nodded, encouraging Hermione to continue. "She had a very strict outlook on things, and wanted me to be active in some way. She enrolled me in several different things, and if I hated it, I had to prove I was the best at it, before I could quit." Hermione thought about Divination. She was passing; book work had always been an easy thing to complete, but when it came to the actual lessons, she felt nothing. Saw nothing. Assumed there was nothing. "There was nothing for me to prove with divination though. It was a waste of time." Hermione looked at Dr. Augsen for confirmation on her feelings, but per usual, her face was like marble. Completely smooth, and untelling. "I don't think my parents would have approved of the subject very much and might have been alright with me dropping it. Both were very practical, Mum especially." Hermione felt the familiar feeling of her throat closing up. Everything hurt all the time, but speaking of them in the past tense was a special kind of pain.

"I see." Dr. Augsen paused, allowing her quill to catch up. "So how do you feel about Harry and Ron? I know its been roughly two weeks since _ you _ decided to avoid talking to them instead?" Hermione had hoped Dr. Augsen would talk about the accidental magic instead, as Dr. Augsen expressed mild disapproval in Hermione not forgiving the boys despite understanding the reasons why she had not. Dr. Augsen did not try to pressure Hermione into being lenient with them as she too felt ignoring them was warranted, but even she could see how much Hermione cared for the boys. It was obvious that Hermione was still being torn up about not being on good terms with her friends, even when it was her call.

"Two weeks exactly." She corrected. "And I still feel the same way I did Wednesday when you had last asked. I can't imagine forgiving them right now." Hermione stopped playing with her ring. "Draco and I have become friends so I'm not in a state by myself all the time." Hermione gave a small smile thinking of her unexpected friend. She wished they would have just agreed to become friends from the beginning of summer as he was delightful when he wanted to be. They hadn't been able to spend time in the music room again, but they regularly met in different spots of the library to study.

"And you mentioned Parvati and Lavender had taken you under their wing?"

Hermione grimaced. "They had." The magical quill scribbled with supreme verve into Dr. Augsen's note pad, when she stated her answer in past tense. "Turns out they were just as devout to Trelawney as they are to _ Woman's Journal _. They haven't really talked to me since I stopped going to Divination." It left her more open to Harry and Ron trying to talk to her, but they had eased up after her outburst in Trelawney's class. It was nice having female companionship, but she did not have much in common with the duo. While they tried to gush about wizard celebrities to her, Hermione would sit there with a lost look on her face. When Hermione tried talking to them about Ancient Runes or Arithmancy, she got the same response.

Hermione and Dr. Augsen sat in silence for a couple minutes. Hermione was waiting for her healer to ask about the flames that she seems to be conjuring, but it did not seem that Dr. Augsen had intentions on asking, or saying anything else as the seconds ticked by. Finally, Hermione broke the silence. "Are you not going to ask about the accidental magic?"

"Do you want to talk about the accidental magic?" Dr. Augsen tilted her head to the side, assessing Hermione. _ She's grown so much since we first started. _ Getting information or a response no longer seemed like prying prophecies from a centaur. Dr. Augsen wanted to tell Hermione she was proud of her, but knew that was something she would share at another time, when it was needed.

Hermione's eyebrows came together from her confusion at the question. "Why, yes. You said if I was having trouble controlling myself I could lose the ability to do magic." I've been trying every method you've taught me to control it but it seems I've only been able to control my outbursts into one _ form _ of magic."

"That is true." Dr. Augsen paused. "Have you been working on meditation or trying to find your quiet place when you are able?"

Hermione paused, that was the only thing she did not practice regularly. Hermione drowned herself in homework and the case with Hagrid. She found that being alone with her thoughts with nothing left to keep her mind busy was the worst thing she would do. Her thoughts wanted to assault her throughout the day, but when she had downtime with nothing to distract her, it turned into open season for her depression and PTSD. "Not as much as I should, I imagine. It's rather difficult..." Hermione let her voice trail off, hoping Dr. Augsen got the hint.

Thankfully, she did. "You're a hard worker Hermione, you work harder than any student in your year and a few above yours I'd imagine. However, too much work- too much of a distraction I should say- can hinder you. Too much of anything, even good, will hurt you." Dr. Augsen paused to make sure Hermione understood the weight of her words. "I should have been more clear before, but now that you will have a bit of free time with Divination no longer being a factor, I want you to use that time to find that quiet place for yourself. When I said 'control your emotions,' I did not mean 'avoid your emotions.' Feel them, understand them, but do not let them be what breaks you." Hermione's face went from cautious to determined, understanding Dr. Augsen's words, despite being frightened by them. She hated how she had to walk on eggshells around herself, but she hated the panic attacks, and the flashbacks more. She would learn to be better. "I know that will be easier said than done though."

"I've learned that's one of life's themes." Hermione smiled humorlessly and Dr. Augsen returned the gesture before looking at her watch.

"I believe that's all the time we have for today. Will you and Draco be heading back to the manor next week for Easter?"

"No, Draco and I decided to stay as the professors seem to be doubling down on the school work before the holiday. We'll need to utilize the library." Hermione rubbed the back of her neck, knowing she would not be able to practice controlling her emotions for the next couple of weeks.

"I understand. I'll see you here Wednesday."

Hermione smiled at Dr. Augsen. "Wednesday."

—————————————————

The next couple of weeks of Easter holiday had been worse than what anyone had imagined it to be. Even Seamus Finnigan, who was as easy going as a Gryffindor could be, exclaimed in frustration at one point while several third years were studying together in the common room, "Call this a holiday!" Neville jumped at his housemate roaring all of a sudden. "The exams are ages away! What are they playing at!"

Hermione, however, still had more to do than anyone else. She was usually the last to leave the common room every night and the first in the library every morning. She didn't have time for many people, and was back to snapping at whomever approached her in the common room while she was studying. The only person that did not bother her was Draco who joined her several times a week in the library to study. Hermione did not know what Draco did in his free time, but whenever he joined her, he seemed to be in a right mood- nearly slamming his books down before sitting down next to her. She would verbally greet him, he would nod, and they would work for hours. They didn't talk for the hours spent together, but it was a comfortable silence that satisfied them both.

At least it was silent until the last Friday of the Easter Holiday. Hermione was sitting in the original spot they had worked at together when they were working on the last bits for Buckbeak's trial four weeks ago. Hermione had shadows under her eyes that looked like Lupin's, and she had closed her eyes to rest them for the umpteenth time that day. A few seconds later, her eyebrow smacked down on to the edge of a text book, one of the many stacked on top of others, causing her to groan in pain as she gripped her face.

Draco who had arrived just in time to watch it happen, started to laugh so hard he had to grip the table in front of him to stay up. Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot as the pain in her eyebrow throbbed. She opened her mouth to tell him to shove off, ready to slip back into her old ways with him when she realized there was blood on her fingers after she pulled her hand away. "Bugger!" Hermione had been so tired lately that her eyes were constantly watery but the pain and the thought of leaving her books around her to be healed by Madam Pomfrey had her tear ducts stinging.

"Language, Herm-" Draco cut himself off seeing her blood. "How the bloody hell did you manage that?" Draco slid into the desk next to her and she pressed herself, farther into the corner, hand back over her brow. Draco was offended by her moving away from him and he held out his hand. "Let me see."

Hermione had a bit of a guilty look on her face at her instinct to keep her distance from him, so she did what he said to show that she trusted him. When she held her hand out to him, he grabbed it and vanished the blood. She then turned her head to the left so he could better see her damaged right eyebrow. Draco leaned in close to her and Hermione went completely rigid, not used to having people in close proximity to her. His breath smelled of mint, but he smelled of amber with a bit of vanilla musk. It caught her completely off guard, but she thought the smooth scent complimented him. She glanced at Draco's face and saw that he had a determined look as he placed his wand closer to her face. He whisked the blood off her brow and narrowed his eyes.

"I'm going to heal it, if that's all right with you. You got yourself pretty good there." Draco waited for her reply to make sure he had her permission to take care of the wound on her face.

Hermione thought about it for a second, "Maybe I should go to Madam Pomfrey if it's that bad." Her eyes drifted down to the books in front of her again and she wanted to cry thinking about the time she would be losing going to the other side of the castle and back.

"For a minor gash? I know losing that _ precious _ time is going to drive you mad, even with your 'special privilege' from the Ministry." Draco rolled his eyes and she narrowed hers at him.

"The time-turner is more of an albatross, not a privilege- and what do you mean gash?" Hermione's hand flew to her eyebrow but he grabbed her wrist.

"You're bound to get your blood everywhere if you keep messing with it." He sounded slightly annoyed with her and still had his wand poised, ready to heal her. "Honestly-"

"If it's a gash and not a cut I should go to Madam Pomfrey."

"I've been studying healing magic for a few years now and practice regularly on my housemates. For Merlin's sake, Hermione, let me help you." Draco kept his volume low but she didn't miss how exasperated he sounded.

Hermione gave him a hard look for a moment and he scourgified her eyebrow again as the blood had nearly ran into her eye. She believed him, but the idea of someone performing magic on her face concerned her. Finally, she gave in. "Fine. But if I come out of this with one eyebrow..."

Draco snorted as he pressed his wand to her brow. "_E__piskey._" He watched her face intently as he watched the wound healed itself. Hermione thought it was an odd feeling as she could literally feel her skin grow then close over the wound in seconds.

Draco stayed staring at her eyebrow and Hermione grew alarmed. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Draco's eyes flicked down to hers then back at her eyebrow. "I, um, just realized I don't know any hair growth spells."

"_ Draco _." She warned before turning to face the window next to her. She transfigured one of the glass panes into a mirror and gasped at the missing hair. "I look like a bloody chav!" Hermione was completely horror stricken as she looked at her reflection, both hands on her cheeks, mouth agape.

"It's not that bad, it actually adds an edge to your look if you ask me." Hermione didn't say anything as she leaned in closer to the mirror. "The hair will grow back on it's own if you can't-."

"No," Hermione ran a finger over the bald cut in her eyebrow. "It scarred." Hermione's awe turned into anger as she turned to look at Draco red in the face. "I should have gone to Madam Pomfrey."

"That's impossible." Draco looked at the eyebrow again and realized that she was right, the skin had scarred over. "That should be impossible." He corrected. "That spell never leaves a scar. What book did you cut yourself on?" Hermione grabbed the book that was piled on top of three books to the right of the textbook she was working out of. The cover was actual wood, which explains how she actually cut her self on it. Draco grabbed the tome and started to flip through it. "These are Ancient Runes _and Sigils_." He chuckled humorlessly. "That explains it."

"How does ancient sigils explain your inability to use a simple healing spell?" When Draco looked up, he saw that she was completely seething and had her arms crossed over her chest.

Anger bubbled up in his belly. He hated when people assumed he was incompetent. Draco, having the rough childhood he did, was raised to be a perfectionist. He was precise and planned every move he made. There was no way he had botched healing her and was outright offended she suggested it. "So there are simple things you don't know. Tell me Hermione, have you ever wondered why those electric things muggleborns have a habit of trying to bring into the school don't work?"

Hermione's nostrils flared at his condescending tone, but she answered anyway, wondering where he was going with it. "In _ Hogwarts a History _ it's explained that the magic of the castle interferes with electronics."

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor for memorizing the only book more boring than a Professor Binns lecture." Hermione huffed and slammed the book in front of her book closed, gathering up her things to leave. "Now, your key word is interfere. _ This _-" Draco lifted the Ancient Runes book and dropped it. "Is filled with markings of all kinds, and sigils are known for being some of the most literal magic out there. You don't even need a wand to use them. I'm amazed you didn't feel the magic practicality pouring out of it." Hermione stopped and looked at him. "When you hit your head on it, the magic from it ended up interfering with me trying to heal your little laceration there." He made a circle in the air in front of her face as he said 'little laceration.'

Hermione's anger left her and she slumped into her chair, processing what she said. "Oh."

"_ Oh. _" He mimicked. Draco crossed his arms and looked away from her. _ This isn't what I came here for. _ He counted down from ten trying to diffuse his anger.

"Draco, I'm- I shouldn't have insulted you. That wasn't right of me and I appreciate you trying to heal me." She placed a hand on his arm, but he pulled his arm away, still angry. Hermione's ears went hot with shame but before she could say anything else he decided to speak.

"You're pushing yourself too hard. You need to give yourself a break." He slowly turned his head to face her, platinum eyebrows lowered and together, indicating he was still annoyed despite the change of subject.

Hermione sighed turning back to her parchment. "I can't. I need to get through the school work for the holiday then go back to doing research for Buckbeak's appeal." A wave of exhaustion hit and Hermione rubbed her face to fight it.

"And how do you expect to pass your exams in June if you burn yourself out now? And I'm helping you with the appeal, remember?" Draco raised an eyebrow to challenge her. "Stressing yourself out more so than usual is not going to help you."

Hermione pulled one of the books she was working out of closer to her. She started to ignore Draco but the more she tried to focus, the more she felt a headache creep on. She closed one eye and put her head in her hand, watching him with her other eye. "I'm beginning to think you're starting to worry about me, you know." She attempted to make the remark snarky but she just sounded tired.

Draco gave her a weird look before answering. "I promised mother I'd keep an eye on you."

She opened both eyes and faced him again. "Narcissa is that worried about me?" Hermione was aware that the Malfoy matron cared for her, but it did something to her heart and spirits hearing it.

"You've hardly given her a reason not to worry." Draco flicked his hand to gesture over the small towers of books loitering the table. Hermione bit the inside of her cheek. A part of her felt possessed, completely obsessed with getting her work done. Another part was screaming for her to put the quill down and curl into a ball to sleep until seventh year. She sat there silent, unsure of what to do. Even when Draco sighed she did not move, too caught up in her internal war. "How about a compromise? You move your studying to the music room and listen to me play? It'll be a change of scenery and some music will do you good."

Hermione looked up and into his silvery eyes at that. The description sounded so similar to how she would spend her summer days with her parents that it almost hurt, but instead of wanting to run from it, she found herself wanting to give into the cravings of a much similar time. Hermione knew it would not feel the same, but couldn't imagine it being a terrible idea. "Alright."

Draco blinked twice hesitant to believe his ears, but cleared his throat as he stood up. "Alright, then." He grabbed at several of the books, creating a stack in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Hermione looked between him and the books he was grabbing.

"It's an incentive to make sure you're going to follow me. You're not able to check out all of these books at once, anyway. The library has a limit on what you can leave with." He paused and looked down at her. "I know you're aware of the limit because I clearly remember you arguing with Madam Pince first year about it."

"I did not argue!" Draco tilted his head to the side, completely unconvinced. "I simply questioned her on it." Hermione added before he could try to contradict her version of the story. "And that's very nice of you. I'll have to tell all of Gryffindor how considerate you are." Hermione smirked when she saw him throw her a dark look.

"Wait ten minutes before heading up. It'll look less suspicious."

"I can be subtle, you know." Hermione started to stack the remaining books into a pile for her to carry herself.

"And I can be poor muggle."

Hermione whipped her head around to ask what he meant by that, but he was gone. Hermione yawned and shook her head. She spent the next ten minutes flipping through the runes textbook, looking at the different meanings, wondering what their history was. When she got up, she checked out the books, squirming under Madam Pince's glare before making her trek up the stairs to the strings music room. Hermione glanced around the third floor hallway before trying to get into the room. It was slightly difficult and very uncomfortable, but Draco informed her the trick into getting into the room when someone else was already in it, was to look away from the tapestry instead of straight at it.

With that knowledge in mind, she was able to get into the room. She was completely caught off guard watching Draco transfigure two chairs into pillows to throw into a pile of blankets and pillows already on the floor. A quick glance around the room and she guessed that the pillows on the floor were also chairs found around the room.

Hermione leaned against the closed door watching him. Draco looked up at her and put his wand away before shoving his hands in his pockets. "I thought about making a lounge chair, but you said you liked the floor better." He did look up at her as he spoke, even when she walked over to where he was standing. Hermione thought he almost looked embarrassed, as if he was uncomfortable with being so kind to someone. The feeling didn't last long as he straightened up, nose in the air, looking like a young, short haired, Lucius. "I would've been insulted if I wasted magic just so you could lay on the floor."

Hermione snorted at that. "I bet." She put her pile of books by the ones he already had laid next to the pillows and blankets. Hermione sat on the pillows and put a blanket over her legs, allowing herself a moment to relax before she went back into full study more. His magic had left the smell of him on the transfigured chairs and she inhaled deeply, deciding she liked the smell a lot. Draco sat in front of the piano, flipping through a music book he had already selected. She watched him, wondering why he was so kind to her when he had hated her for years. "Draco..." He looked up at her, but she chickened out of what she wanted to ask him and asked something else instead, too afraid of what the answer was. "Why do you think there is a piano in a the _ strings _ music room? Piano is a percussion instrument."

Draco didn't pause before answering. "I wondered the same thing myself when I first started coming here. I think it's because there's a lot of music where the pianist accompanies a violinist or some other string musician. The room wasn't designed for just one person to play, but for whomever is in the room to play without being interrupted."

"That makes sense." Hermione grabbed the book she was working out of in the library. Hermione absentmindedly flipped through the pages, looking for the page she left off at as Draco started to play Chopin's Nocturne. Hermione found herself closing her eyes again as the notes danced around the room from his smooth playing. Hermione wanted to ask her question again, but despite the burning feeling the query left in her throat, she could not ask it. Hermione settled on another question she found herself wondering about. "Who is your favorite composer?"

Draco didn't answer for a long time, until the song was done in fact, and when he did it was with a slight frown. "I suppose if I had to pick it would be Chopin." He wasn't sure why, but it bothered him that he didn't have a favorite composer. There were pieces that moved him, but they were all from various some of them being Chopin as he felt that he could emotionally relate to a hand full of his pieces.

"You have more than one favorite?" Hermione looked up from the parchment she tucked inside one of the books and watched Draco who seemed to be deep in thought as he stared off into space.

"No." He replied distractedly. "I don't have a _ favorite _ composer. I enjoy playing the piano, it helps a lot with my stress as it's something I get lost in but..." He thought of how she played the cello. _ It's not the same as you. It's beautiful, but not passionate. _ "I don't know how to describe it." Is what he said instead.

Hermione pursed her lips, but accepted the answer, as a thought struck her from he had said. "You've been in a bad mood when I've seen you lately- More so than usual." She added teasingly, not wanting to seem too serious. "Are you stressed?"

He glanced over at her. He thought she hadn't noticed much of him as she was always, sometimes to the point of literally, nose deep in a book when she was studying. It always gave him a nice feeling when he felt noticed, and it caught him off guard that she had noticed. "It's the Quidditch Final next month."

Hermione rolled her eyes and he narrowed his. "It's not you," she waved a hand in front of her. "I'm tired of hearing about quidditch- the whole common room is talking about it. Wood has been harassing Harry about it and it's still another two weeks away. You would think they should be more worried about passing." _ Or staying alive. _ She thought as she remembered the extra pressure Harry was under. She still had not talking to him and the only good thing about Gryffindor being excited about the coming game is that Wood had arranged for Harry to be accompanied everywhere in case a Slytherin tried to put him out of commission. It allowed her not to worry as much as she kept her distance from him and Ron. Hermione wanted to be friends with them again, but she was determined to have them grovel in the meantime. "I ought to cheer for Slytherin at the final."

Draco couldn't help but chuckle at her small rant, despite his own love for the sport. "I'm sure Potter would love that." Draco flexed his fingers as he flipped to the pages so could practice Etude No. 6 by Paganini and Liszt. As he played the first few notes he gave her a playful smile. "Although if you really do want us to win, you could tell us their strategy." Hermione wasn't listening though as she stared at the book in front of her, deep into her thoughts as she considered what she was thinking. "Are you all right?"

Hermione looked at him and closed the book in front of her. "What if I went to the game cheering for Slytherin?"

He missed a note and frowned, but continued playing. "What?"

"What if I showed my support for Slytherin in the final? It would drive both Ron and Harry mad."

"I'd personally have a laugh, but the rest of the school would be convinced you've gone completely barmy." He looked over at her to make sure he had not offended her. He did not expect to see the twinkle in her eye and a mischievous grin on her face.

"As if they haven't already." Her grin lessened at her words but she shrugged the negative thoughts off. "Ron was actually worse to me than Harry over a broom that wasn't even his. I think rooting for the enemy team will settle the score, 'hurting them where it really hurts' and all that."

Draco stopped playing and stared at her for nearly a whole minute. Hermione was staring at the floor, fingers laced together under her chin as she thought about how Harry and Ron would react. "Is Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Princess and insufferable know-it-all, plotting revenge before mine own eyes?" He grinned as she scrunched up her nose in distaste.

"'Gryffindor Princess'? Is that what you call me?"

"That's what a good portion of Slytherin calls you. I'm unsure who made it up." The last part was a lie. Draco had actually came up with the name while he was venting about how Dumbledore obviously favored the Gryffindor house when he had tacked on extra house points at the end of their first year, robbing Slytherin of the house cup.

Hermione's face flushed at the idea of people calling her 'Princess' while saying malicious things about her. "What do they call Harry and Ron?"

Draco laughed. "Potty and Weasel. Peeves picked fitting names for them if you ask me."

"That's terrible." Her nose was still scrunched up but she was smiling. Hermione missed her friends, but she felt gits was not a strong enough word for them at the moment. Draco watched as her face began to fall, thinking about them.

"I would say go for it if I was positive your own house wouldn't hex you for it. There's been fights breaking out in a hall way where we had one of our sixth years ending up in the hospital wing. He isn't even on our quidditch team."

Hermione nodded considering what he was saying as he made a strong point. Draco resumed his playing as Hermione thought about it. After half an hour, she spoke again. "So I'll just make Ron and Harry think that I'm a traitor. I'll explain it to anyone else who asks me, quite a few of my house owes me a favor or two so I doubt they would tell. I'll just torture them for the next two weeks and afterwards I'll make up with them. My point would be made and we'll all be done with it."

Draco paused his playing when she talked about forgiving Harry and Ron. "You _ want _ to be friends with them still?" He could feel the slimy feeling of jealousy wriggling in his stomach. He enjoyed Hermione's company just as much as he enjoyed Blaise and Theo's. Draco didn't want her to make up with them not because he was afraid they would not hang out as often, but because he was afraid she would stop spending time with him entirely. It was a part of the reason he made sure to be kind to her, he wanted to show her that he was a part of a better sort- unlike Harry and Ron.

Hermione looked up at him, a surprised expression on her face. "Harry, Ron and I became best friend's on Halloween first year. Do you remember what happened that day?"

Draco remembered she started the story in Diagon Alley in the summer, but never finished it. He had been curious about it but forgot about it before he had the chance to ask her. "No?"

"That was the day there was a troll in the girl's bathroom. _ I _ happened to be locked in with the troll-"

"How did you manage that?" Draco was completely interested in her story as he had not heard her side before and couldn't resist asking his question.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how he would react. "Harry and Ron may have locked me in the bathroom." Draco's jaw dropped as he was completely dumbfounded. She continued her story in a rush, "But as soon as they realized it, they faced the troll and managed to knock it out when they're resistant to magic in the first place. They saved my life. Ever since they we _ were _ inseparable."

Draco ran a hand over his hair as he gave a humorless laugh. "So, you're telling me you want to be friend's with a couple of blokes who nearly had you killed by a troll- because they locked you in a bathroom with one- then saved you when they realized they would probably be expelled if anything happened to you? They were just righting their wrong."

Hermione frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, not appreciating Draco's tone or what he was saying about her two friends. "That's not why they did it- and we've bonded in other ways over time."

"Of course, when you were doing their homework for them I'm sure." Draco rolled his eyes completely annoyed with her thought process. "Tell me, were you only hanging out with me because you didn't have any one else to hang out with? Am I just some place holder for Potty and Weasel?"

"What- no!" Hermione was confused and offended he would say such a thing, but Draco appeared to not be listening.

"'Brightest-Witch-of-the-Age', alright." He thought he mumbled the last part low enough, but apparently he did not. He had turned back to the piano only to have a book hit him in the shoulder. "What-"

"Get stuffed, Malfoy!" Hermione waved her wand angrily at the books she had checked from the library. His anger bubbled inside of him as he stood, hands clenched into fists. Draco fumed silently as he watched her march towards the door, his lips pressed into a thin line. Before exiting, she turned around to face him, angry tears in her eyes. "Maybe you'd know what having friends were like if you grew up with them!" Without allowing him to reply, she slammed the door and bolted to Gryffindor common room.

Draco started to walk to the door, but stopped a quarter of the way there. He ran back and kicked a pillow, but was unsatisfied with how easy it was for it to fly and flop to the ground. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the pillows and blankets. "_ Finite Incantatem! _" The pillows instantly returned to their original state as chairs and he kicked one, feeling the satisfaction of the metal bangs it made.

"Stupid, little, mud- Ugh!" As much as Draco wanted to say the slur he couldn't. His heart not in it anymore. "I didn't want to be your friend anyway!" He kicked another chair, but it wasn't as enjoyable as the first chair he sent flying. He knew he had reacted poorly, even though it was honestly, and he recognized he was already trying to lie to himself like he did every time he was rejected by someone. Draco stood there for a few minutes, letting the events that had just passed fully sink in.

Draco's anger gave way to panic; He wasn't sure if Hermione would forgive him, like she was trying to do with Ron and Harry, but he hoped she did as he already regretted what he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter hurt so don’t hate me.
> 
> Chopin - Nocturne in E Flat Major (Op. 9 No. 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p29JUpsOSTE
> 
> Paganini/Liszt - Etude No. 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR98AEAgnYQ
> 
> Also, my friend has a Dramione discord and this is the link incase anyone would like to join: https://discord.gg/6hcV8t


	21. Year Three: Part VIII (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Eating disorder mention, self harm mention, child abuse mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"Are you planning on telling her?" Lucius laid on his side as he kissed down his wife's bare neck and shoulder.

Narcissa rolled on to her back, clutching their silk sheets to keep her chest covered. Even after decades of marriage where they explored every inch of each other's bodies thousands of times, she always tried to regain her modesty after they made love by keeping herself covered. Lucius found the little act adorable as he had never met anyone who was more of a lady. "Telling who, what, my love?"

Lucius propped himself on one elbow and looked down at Narcissa, looking over the fine features of her face. "Are you going to tell Hermione about her memories being tampered with?"

Narcissa gave a small pout as she briefly thought about it again. "No. I don't see how anything positive would come out of it."

Lucius was surprised by the answer. "Would you not do the same for Draco if the roles were reversed?" He asked deciding to challenge her own demands on how they were to raise Hermione.

"No," She said without hesitation, proving she had thought about that already. She ran her hand through the hair that dangled in front of his face. "I would do the same. Or at least I wouldn't tell them anytime soon. Andromeda has reported that she's getting better, but Hermione is still fragile. She deserves to know, but we shouldn't bring it up to her if she isn't ready."

Narcissa's command was subtle, but he had not missed it. "I see." He kissed her fingers that still had his hair over them then sighed into her palm, thinking about all the work that still needed to be done with the gala being less than three months away. "I should go to the study, I still have to find an orchestra and reach out to several decorators." He sat up and Narcissa followed.

"You don't have to do that right now." She wrapped her arms around his waist and lightly bit him on the shoulder making him laugh.

"I'm restless. I said I would stop working for a few months to focus on Fudge and the Gala, but now I don't know what to do. I was always doing paper work, doing research or _ something_."

"You forgot to mention bribing, black mailing, intimidating-"

"No, no, I mentioned all of those things just now. I simply used the politically correct terms." He gave her a playful smirk and she gave him a playful smack on his waist. He grabbed her hand and kissed it before getting up. Lucius did not share Narcissa's ideas of modesty when it came to his body and had no qualms about strutting in front of her. "The gala is hardly a challenge for me."

"Just wait until a week before the actual gala, _ then _ it will be challenging once everyone you hired starts to cancel. By the way, you speak of decorators, but you haven't even told me the theme you picked for the gala."

Lucius looked at her, grinning as he was proud of what he had decided on. "Hosting the gala is not just to fund raise for it, but to encourage others to open their homes to children, correct?"

Narcissa raised an eyebrow, curious that Lucius was repeating her points back to her. "Yes."

"And we are asking proud wizards to consider muggle born and muggle children correct?"

"_ All _ children, not just a specific group of children." She corrected.

Lucius nodded his understanding. "So then we must play to their egos: The theme is Gods and Goddesses. We make them feel like they have the power to change a life for the better."

Narcissa's eyebrows shot up. The idea was nearly ingenious as memories of socializing with Death Eaters resurfaced. She literally _ heard _ them refer to themselves as Gods and when she re-entered back into society after their trials were over, she realized over the years that pure bloods and blood supremacists had the tendency to adopt that same mentality. Narcissa assumed that Voldemort already knew this, and had made sure that all acts made by the Death Eaters were tragedies. If wizards were inclined to think they were untouchable then what better way to have everyone bow in fear than prove them wrong? "Do you think it'll work?"

"I know it will."

Narcissa grinned from the excitement that was starting to fill her. "It's been ages since we hosted something _ and _ we're finally taking that bastard down."

Lucius laughed at her zeal and walked over to their closet to put on his favorite black silk robe. When he came back out, Narcissa had slipped into their bathroom.

Hearing him enter their bedroom again, Narcissa poked her head outside the bathroom door. "Are you sure you have to go right now? I was hoping you would join me." She nearly purred the last part and gave a coy smile.

Lucius' body was already reacting to her invitation before his feet moved towards their bathroom door. "I suppose bathing before working wouldn't hurt."

————————————

Hermione was in Ancient Runes on Wednesday, dating the top of her parchment, when she felt someone sit next to her. She looked up and was mildly surprised to see it was Blaise.

"Oh, hullo." Hermione moved her things over, glancing back to see Draco glaring at Blaise. Hermione's stomach dropped when she looked back at Blaise.

"_ Ciao, bella. _" Hermione watched out of the corner of her eye as Blaise took out parchment and quill along with his wand, placing it beside his parchment. It was something most students did, even when they did not have practical lesson, but Hermione now preferred to keep her wand holstered at all times. She waited for Professor Babbling to start the lesson, pretending she was not hyper aware of Blaise's presence.

"Whatever he said, he regrets it."

Hermione looked over at Blaise's parchment, but not up at him. "Sorry?"

"You know who I'm talking about." Hermione glanced back at Draco who had his arms crossed over his chest, still glaring at the back of Blaise's head.

"Then why hasn't he said anything to me?"

"Same reason you haven't said anything to him." Blaise gave her a cheeky smile that made both of the dimples in his cheeks appear. The dark-complexioned Italian had caught the eye of many from all houses. Even Parvati, who swore she would never befriend with a Slytherin, admitted she wouldn't mind making an exception for him.

Hermione, slightly affronted, glared at Blaise before turning back to the front of the classroom. "You don't know what you're talking about." Hermione had replayed the scene of her and Draco's last argument several times in her head over the past few days. She couldn't understand why Draco got so offensive, and while she was not on good terms with Ron and Harry, she wouldn't tolerate them being attacked. They didn't know they had trapped her in the bathroom with a troll in their first year and she never did their homework _ for _ them. She made them do their own work and _ helped _ them with corrections.

"Maybe not," Blaise's head rolled to the side as he waved a hand in the air as he spoke. "Maybe you can tell me? Draco is, ah, a bit reserved when it comes to what he is feeling." He gave her a small smile in an attempt to charm her. Hermione raised her eyebrows, considering giving in. Blaise had always always acted as if she had never existed until they had to work together this year. He was always kind and never gave a reason for her not to trust him. She opened her mouth to tell him 'no', when the Professor decided then was the time to start her lecture. Both Hermione and Blaise stopped and provided their undivided attention for the rest of the class, leaving Hermione to hope that Blaise would leave the topic dropped.

When the lesson was over, Hermione tried to rush to a deserted area to use the time-turner, but Blaise quickly caught up to her, much to her disappointment. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I really have to go-"

"There isn't another time for us to talk, and I really would like to see Draco in a better mood again. He hasn't stopped hexing the first years since Saturday-"

"WHAT?" Hermione stopped in her tracks, grabbing Blaise's arm to spin him around when he didn't stop next to her.

Blaise put his hands up in surrender, a small smile on his lips. "Kidding- He has been in a bad mood though and I had grown accustomed to him being in a better mood since you two had become friends. He was much easier to manage."

"Ugh," Hermione started to stomp off, but Blaise followed.

"Just tell me the quick version."

Hermione stopped exasperated. "Why are you so persistent?"

Blaise shrugged a shoulder, one palm up in the air. "Slytherins are determined."

She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. The comment briefly reminded her of a conversation with Dr. Augsen long ago. "Do you really believe your personality traits are set for the rest of your life at the age of eleven?" Blaise rubbed the back of his head being caught completely off guard by the question and did not know how to reply. "Forget it! I need to get to class, Blaise." Hermione waved her hands in front of her face and nearly ran off.

"We have the next class together!" Hermione was about to start running when she felt a hand close around her arm. She whirled around and saw it was Harry, who was currently being escorted to his next class by Fred, George, and Ron.

"Let go of me, Harry!" Hermione wrenched her arm away and Blaise caught up to her. Blaise approached her side and Ron took a step closer to Hermione, eyeing Blaise.

"Back off, Zabini." The red head nearly growled trying to intimidate the black haired boy.

Hermione, looping her arm around a surprised Blaise's arm, glared at Ron. Ron looked at their intertwined arms like he wanted to rip them off, but Hermione refused to move or shrink back. She knew they hadn't seen her trying to get away from Blaise and used that fact to her advantage. "Why are you telling my _ friend _ to back off?" All four Gryffindor boys looked at her as if she was talking speaking Greek and Blaise stiffened. She looked up at Blaise's face and saw that it betrayed nothing as it was fixed in an expression of mild annoyance at the Gryffindors before him.

"He's in Slytherin, Hermione. Our match- _ the quidditch final _\- is against them next Saturday." Harry spoke slowly, entirely confused by her actions. It almost sounded as if he was talking to a five-year old and it made her nails dig into her palms in anger.

"Funny you mention that," Hermione abandoned the hope of not having to use the time-turner more than she needed to. Instead, she decided to start her bit of revenge on Ron and Harry. Hermione, was grinning as she spoke, "Blaise and I were just talking about the upcoming game."

Fred and George exchanged a look. Hermione had already told most of her third year class, along with the Gryffindor quidditch team, what she planned and had gotten their promise of silence. A lot of her house, the twins included, were inclined to help her as they didn't agree with Harry and Ron on the episodes they witnessed in the common room.

"Why would you be talking about the game with a _ Slytherin _ for?" Ron asked. His eyes darted from Blaise to Hermione, completely confused.

"I can talk to my _ friends _, about anything I want to." She copied the same tone he did when he had said 'Slytherin.' "It's nothing regarding strategy- not that I would know anything anyway, since I've been kept out of the loop for so long." Hermione had a flippant tone which seemed to make her words sting more. "I'm just going to be cheering for them in the upcoming game and wanted to ask Blaise to lend me a flag or a noisemaker to show my support." She turned to Blaise who had a question in his eyes but said nothing. "Perhaps a flag since we are nearing summer."

Blaise played along, "That would be a better choice."

Harry immediately looked hurt and Ron turned a violent shade of red. Hermione tucked a stray lock behind her ear looking at them as Blaise placed a hand in his pocket, where Hermione observed from class earlier, was the pocket that he kept his wand in. George leaned in to Ron's ear and said something that convinced the younger Weasley to leave without another word. "Harry, we ought to get to class." George tried, nodding at the nearly deserted hallway, but Harry glanced from Blaise to Hermione again.

"Hermione, we should have been there for you. It was wrong of us to -"

Hermione could feel the signs of her resolve starting to weaken and her determination soften, but she ignored it. Looking at her watch, she spoke over Harry as if he had not started speaking in the first place. "We're late for our lecture, Blaise. I'll see you around, Harry, yeah?" She pulled Blaise away from Harry and the twins. She was thankful that Blaise did not object and stayed silent until they were out of ear shot.

"Do you always push people away?" His voice was full of curiosity and when she glanced at him he was giving her an oddly serious look. In the short time she had interacted with Blaise he was never so serious and it caught her off guard.

"I don't push people away." Hermione she felt completely defensive at his accusation.

"Draco... Might have told me about what happened Saturday." Hermione whirled around, gritting her teeth in anger at his confession and stopped to look at him. "He also told me that they," Blaise pointed a thumb over his shoulder where they had left Harry, "have not talked to you for months, yet you aren't accepting their apologies. While I know Draco is not someone you have always gotten along with," Hermione almost wanted to snort at the understatement, but respected Blaise enough not to. "He's making an attempt to get along well with you."

"Why are you so concerned about Draco and I getting along?"

Blaise was silent for a moment, pondering what he should say next before deciding on a vague truth. "I consider him to be a good friend. He was one of the few who accepted me for who I am." Hermione wanted to say she was surprised to hear something like that, but she wasn't. He had shown her there was more to the bully he had been since they first met. "He puts a front, but he needs friends just like anyone else."

"Then maybe he should be told that." Hermione crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side. Feeling uncomfortable that Blaise was pointing out things that she was trying to ignore. "I don't appreciate him speaking so negatively of my friends who I am working on sorting out right now."

Blaise tutted like an older lady who spent her days gossiping to anyone who would listen. "I can't be the social compass for both of you." Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but he held up a finger. "I don't usually get involved in things. It's not my style, but tell me, you're an only child, right?"

Hermione looked Blaise up and down at his choice of words. "I was."

"Were you any good at sharing things?"

"I didn't have to share... anything." Hermione nearly paused towards the end of the sentence, realizing what Blaise was trying to say and guilt settled in. "Are you saying that Draco is jealous?"

"Incredibly so. He doesn't like sharing, he never had to share and he enjoys having you as a friend, especially one who returns to the manor with him. You make him feel less alone, but if I had to guess, he reacted poorly because having to share _ anything _ with the golden boy who gets everything was intimidating. Especially after the risk he took with the announcement he made to all the Slytherins in the beginning of the year."

"Golden boy? Do you mean Harry? And what announcement? Did Draco tell you all of this?"

Blaise shrugged his both of his shoulders with both palms up this time as if to say he didn't know. "You should ask Draco."

"You know what, even if he did, that is his personal problem." Blaise raised his eyebrows as she crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't meet his eyes, not wanting to see a less than cheerful Blaise. Hermione could see that she now had the habit of either freezing or becoming offensive when threatened with this time being no different. She felt like she was being guilt tripped and wanted the conversation to end.

Thankfully, Blaise was done with the conversation. "You want to push me away, that's fine. I won't chase you like the others, though." He started walking without waiting for a reply, whistling a muggle song that was popular at the time. After he walked a few meters, where he didn't hear her footsteps behind him, he looked back to see Hermione has disappeared, as if she vanished into thin air.

——————————————

Hermione walked into McGonagall's office a week later where Dr. Augsen was already waiting for their Wednesday session.

"Hello Hermione, how are yo-"

Hermione slammed the door behind her and interrupted her healer. "Why am I like this?"

Dr. Augsen tilted her head to the side. "Why are you like what?" Andromeda studied the girl closely. Something was bothering Hermione to the point she was acting differently. Each session Hermione seemed more awake, more aware, more _ alive _. Not on, what muggles would call, _ autopilot _ all the time. Andromeda acknowledged that this could be both a good thing or a bad thing depending on how it was handled.

"_ This _," Hermione gestured to her body like all the qualities she hated about herself would appear in the air between them. Hermione acted as if Blaise's words hadn't affected her all week and she hadn't brought it up to Dr. Augsen on Saturday. She hadn't been ready to accept that she was partially in the wrong- if not completely in the wrong with Draco. "I love Harry and Ron to death. They're friends I would _ die _ for and all because they hurt me, I decided to ignore them?" Dr. Augsen blinked, and sat even more straight in her chair. "I was miserable because I was alone, but now that they're trying to make amends I push them away? And then when I make new friends, I decide that oh- _ their feelings don't matter, so what if they try to put our past behind them, I'm just going to disregard their feelings because I feel like shite so he should too! _"

"Hermione!" Dr. Augsen gasped. The gasp was more out of surprise than anger as she was off guard by what the young Gryffindor was saying.

"I'm _ sorry _, but I don't have any other way to describe how I feel in a few words!" Hermione paced in front of the chair she had not bothered to sit in. Hermione had made time to try out meditation over the week, but it ended up with her thoughts filling her head rather than clearing out of her mind. It started as introspection which turned into replaying her arguments and over analyzing them. It was something that caused a fresh type of panic as she felt her brain was shaking a fog she had been in for months. "What is wrong with me?" Hermione placed one hand on her head and another on her hip. "I should be-" Hermione didn't know what she should be, and it infuriated her. She had few resources, but they only seemed to help so much in what she should do. She wished she still had calming draught so she could forget about the problems, even for a little bit. "I should not be doing this. Why am I doing this?"

"Control."

"What?- I mean, sorry?" Hermione slowed her pacing for a second as she looked at Dr. Augsen.

"You're wanting control. Even if it's something that hurts you. Usually people do this by means of disordered eating or self harm, but you seem to try and do it emotionally."

Hermione came to a full stop at that and finally sat down. _ Of course. _

"Well, I should say that you think you do have control, you just had not realized it. Relationships are a two-way street and it seems you have been trying to prove that to yourself." Dr. Augsen had a sad look on her face, choosing to be more open with Hermione as she was on the verge of an episode. Hermione was someone who relied on close relationships, something she had been depriving herself of.

"I'm an idiot." Her voice warbled and the tears started to flow. "I'm so incredibly _ stupid _." Hermione covered her face with her hands and wept into them.

"Ooh," Dr. Augsen cooed as she kneeled in front of Hermione, placing one hand on the girl's knee. "Hermione, don't ever say that about yourself. You are not just intelligent, but you are strong."

"That's absolute poppycock." Hermione angrily swiped at her face. "No smart person sabotages their friendships and relationships with people who she calls her brothers. I told Harry and Ron I was rooting for Slytherin in the upcoming game! When Harry couldn't be at the funeral with me, he sent Hedwig! When Snape had made me look like an idiot in front of the class, Ron was the one who stood up to him and happily served his detention for it. Harry asked Mr. Weasley to-" Hermione started to hyperventilate as she rambled do to her not allowing herself to breath. Dr. Augsen had placed her hands over Hermione's bringing her attention to her sense of touch instead and away from her worsening thoughts.

"But hurt people do and that isn't your fault. Sometimes our brains play tricks on us by making us defend ourselves against a threat that isn't there." Hermione looked at Dr. Augsen with doubtful brown eyes and it made Andromeda think of her own daughter. "Small children often imagine their parents as gods when they're younger, so they don't consider that they will one day die. Over time we grow out of this, but it's slow, and takes literal years. At your age, you may have realized it would one day happen, but it's usually not a serious consideration unless a parent is ill. You did not even have the chance to mentally prepare yourself before you were forced to say goodbye. Loosing parents at any age is hard, Hermione, but you have it more than twice as hard for any adult considering how it happened, too. I'm sure your parents raised you to be practical too, but trauma will cause you to behave irrationally." Dr. Augsen tucked a lock of hair behind Hermione's ear. "That's why I'm here. To help you not just to adjust, but to find that balance in life you had lost."

"Does it ever get easier?" Hermione nearly choked on her sob and she forcibly cleared her throat to continue. "I miss them, every-day- and I just wish they were still here." Hermione collapsed into herself and cried into her lap as Dr. Augsen rubbed her back.

Dr. Augsen didn't say anything until Hermione had calmed down to almost quiet blubbering. "We adjust, we never stop missing them, but we do move on. We have to. Life stops for no one and we wouldn't be serving their memories any justice if we just gave up." Dr. Augsen thought back to a month ago when she heard Hermione had fell off of the astronomy tower. "Your friends won't be mad at you, I'm sure. I believe they are genuinely sorry for how they had treated you. I doubt they would let something so small come between you two again."

Hermione nodded into her lap before lifting her head. Dr. Augsen conjured a box of tissues for Hermione, and Hermione took one, blowing her nose in a way that even she winced at how gross it sounded.

Dr. Augsen reached out to grab the ring on Hermione's necklace. "Remember that you are loved Hermione. They didn't just want you to do great things, but they wanted you to want those great things for yourself, too. It's obvious you're ambitious, too so please, don't give up on yourself. If you have a problem, we can work through it together."

Hermione nodded and grabbed Dr. Augsen, pulling her into a hug. Hermione had not realized how much she missed the contact, but she knew immediately that while a hug from anyone was nice, what she really needed was several from a true friend. Harry, Ron, and Draco.

———————————

When Hermione eventually made it back to the hall the Gryffindor common room was located in, Oliver Wood, the quidditch team Captain, had exited the portrait.

"I've been meaning to talk to you all week-" Wood had put a finger in Hermione's face, and she immediately smacked it away.

"How rude-"

"Rude?! I'm not the one who is sabotaging my house's chances of winning by psyching out the seeker!" Wood's face was completely twisted in anger and Hermione thought to herself about the rumors she had about Wood being absolutely barmy over quidditch. She had decided at the beginning of the school year that all had to be true and was slightly leery with being on the receiving end of his anger.

"Well, if you'd get out of my way, I'd be able to talk to him about that." She attempted to side step him, but he mirrored her movement.

"And make him feel worse?"

Hermione huffed as she straightened her posture. It was Wood's last year at Hogwarts so it was almost understandable why he had been strict with the team- it was his final chance to win the cup and it was no secret he was wanting to sign with a professional team after the school year ended. "I want to make up with Harry and I won't be able to undo any 'damage' you think I've done unless you allow me to talk to him, Wood."

Both of them ended up staring each other down, not moving or saying another word until the portrait door swung open, revealing a Harry and Ron who were on their way to dinner. Hermione immediately ran past Wood and threw her arms around her two friends, making them both stumble back into the fat lady and gnomes that were stationed to guard her portrait after Black's last break in. Ignoring the grumbles from the magical creatures and portrait, she nearly broke down completely for a second time that day.

"I've been so stupid! I never want us to fight again! I'm not cheering for Slytherin, I just knew how much you both love quidditch and I wanted you two to know-"

"Hermione, calm down." Harry pulled his neck free from her arm and she pulled both of her hands back and placed them on her face, as if hiding her face would hide the guilt she felt.

"I was wrong, Harry-"

"No, you weren't- we were wrong." Harry had a sorry look on his face and he glanced at Ron.

Ron had his head down, and was hiding behind his bangs. "'Mione, I'm sorry about accusing Crookshanks for eating Scabbers."

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione was so overcome with joy that she nearly knocked Ron over when she gave him a hug. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and Hermione thought the hug felt a little different than the others she had with him, but decided it was her imagination from not having a hug in so long.

"Harry, there was something else I wanted to remind you about the gam-"

"Not now, Oliver." Harry glanced over at Wood then looked back at Hermione. "Can we head to the Great Hall before he starts another rant?"

Hermione was grinning ear to ear as they walked to dinner, overjoyed that there would be no more turmoil between, her, Harry, and Ron. When they got to the Great Hall, she immediately glanced over at the Slytherin table for Draco.

—————————————

Draco sat facing the Gryffindor table and caught Hermione's eye when she walked in, but not before he noticed the body language between her, Harry and Ron. He turned his eyes down to his food, suddenly feeling his anger from their argument returning. _ If she wants to surround herself with a couple of twats, fine. _

"You good there, mate?" Theo smirked as he ate a bite of the lemon chicken Hogwarts served that night. "Nervous about the game this Saturday?" His eyes drifted to where Hermione and her friends had sat before snapping back to Draco. "Or is our favorite charity case upsetting you again?"

"I don't like that name." Blaise said with a scrunched up face. His back was to Hermione but Theo had recycled the same insult over the last week and half. "It's insulting."

"Congratulations, Blaise- it's supposed to be and that's _ exactly _ what she is." Theo turned to Draco with an arrogant look on his face. "I told you not to trust the mudblood. Her kind can't be trusted-"

Draco felt disgusted at the word being used, but said nothing as he zoned out as Theo got into a heated argument with Blaise again. _ I'm always being told to do something. _ Draco had thought about arranging to meet with Hermione again, but truth of the matter was he was not just hurt, but prideful. It was a mix of emotions he didn't understand and trying to draw a reasonable reaction from his prior experiences only made him feel worse. No one in Slytherin dared to disrespect him on purpose. If it was an accident, they were set as an example and the issues never happened again. He had given Hermione 'free reign' as Theo had put it, and it back fired. Draco wouldn't entertain what his father would do anymore as he decided his father was way too harsh to his liking. Lucius provided results, but Draco did not feel that violence was _ always _ necessary. His mother was a mystery; she had never objected to Lucius' teachings and seemed to agree with them _ unless _ it regarded Hermione. Draco found that to be hypocritical as he tried to look at things in black and white. If one mudblood was as bad as Lucius and Theo had said, then they all had to be bad, right? However, even Lucius seemed to turn his cheek with Hermione. Draco recalled the memory of finding them laughing together on the staircase- Draco was too shocked at the sight of his father having a genuine laugh with Hermione to even be jealous of the scene.

"Draco, tell this idiotic pouf that-"

"_ Pouf _?" It took Draco a second to recognize that Blaise repeated the insult Theo just hurled at him as is accent had came in so thick. Blaise went into a rant in Italian that would have made even a lady as rough as Madam Hooch blush.

"I'm leaving." Draco stood up, grabbing a chicken leg from the table and made his way out of the great hall. He glanced at Hermione to see Persephone had delivered a package to her. He briefly wondered what it was that she asked his mother for, but told himself he didn't care to know. Hermione decided at that second to look at him again and her smiled faltered as she watched him leave.

Hermione thought about chasing after Draco, but gripped the package in her hands. She was impulsive by nature which she realized was fine with Harry and Ron, but Draco was different. He had been raised differently, and she had to make her amends differently. Remembering that him and his mother only accepted actions over words, she gripped the package Narcissa sent to her tighter, hoping it was enough.

——————————

Draco woke Friday morning with a heavy weight on his chest. It was a weird feeling he had never experienced before, and when he finally opened his eyes, he did not expect to see a pair of yellow cat eyes to greet him. He jumped and flailed his arms, causing Crookshanks to jump back and give an unmistakably disgruntled mew before dropping the parchment he had in his mouth. "Did she send you as payback?" The question came to mind as he thought back to him frightening Hermione in the infirmary before he could remember he was trying not to think about her.

It wasn't the first time that Crookshanks had made it into the Slytherin common rooms so Draco wasn't surprised to see the cat there, but Draco had always been under the impression that Crookshanks visited at his own volition. Crookshanks never had a letter, until now, and Draco was almost equally as surprised to see it was from Hermione.

Draco immediately crumpled up her request to meet later as she was the last person he wanted to see. He even made it a point to sit with his back to the Gryffindor tables for all three meals yesterday so he didn't have to see her bushy head unless it was in class. In his mind he felt like she made a decision. There was no way she would want to be friends with Harry, Ron _ and _ him. Harry and Ron wouldn't accept her being friends with Draco and she made it clear how much she valued them.

Draco ignored the nagging part of him saying that he should at least send a note back to decline her invitation while he got dressed, and headed to class. Draco had decided that he would do what he always did when he got overwhelmed with decisions, and let someone else make the decision for him. This time, it wasn't his parents he listened to, but Theo.

Draco wouldn't of had let anyone else get away with what he let Hermione get away with, even if it was Blaise or Theo. Draco knew it was in part because he was trying with her more than he did with others, but if she did not want to give him credit for it, he decided he would no longer bother. Draco scowled into the stairwell leading into his common room. _ I shouldn't have let so many walls down. She already forgot how bad I can actually be. _ A shrill sound that was supposed to be giggling caught his attention, and Draco looked in the direction it came from to see it was Pansy. Having a female around was a different pace he happened to like and wondered if he actually gave Pansy the time of day, if she would calm down and offer the same tranquility that Hermione did.

He must have been staring because when he pulled himself from his thoughts, Pansy and Millicent were staring back at him. Pansy gave a small wave as the realization dawned on his face. "Earth to Draco." She giggled again and Draco ignored the nails on chalkboard feeling she gave him.

"Walk with me, Pans." He looked ahead of him as he continued his way out of the common room, but could see her whisper excitedly to Millicent before joining his side.

————————————

Hermione discovered after sending Crookshanks off that the ring her parents gave her had fit her. It was almost a comfortable fit though so she wrapped a piece of silver thread around it to make up for the lack of finger it needed. She twirled it nervously as she glanced several times from her book to the Slytherin table at breakfast, waiting for Draco to appear, and get some sign on if he would be meeting her later in the music room.

"Yeew auff right?" Hermione looked over at Ron who was speaking with his mouth full again.

"Ron, please." Hermione was trying not to smile through her grimace, but she couldn't help it. She had missed his annoying habits, too- At least until she got used to them again. "That's so gross."

He took the time to swallow his food and cleared his throat. "Are you all right? You're fidgeting."

Hermione stopped twirling the ring on her finger and immediately glanced over at the Slytherin table to see Draco had arrived with an arm around Pansy Parkinson. She frowned, but replied to Ron anyway, "I'm nervous about the game tomorrow." It wasn't exactly a lie, but she had not meant it how Ron was going to take it.

Ron snorted which caused him to choke. Hermione slapped his back several times and he coughed up another piece of egg. Hermione had the feeling she was all ready over missing his annoying habits. Ron's eyes watered as he waved a hand for her to stop. "Harry's got a Firebolt, 'Mione."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply that Draco did too, but stopped. The school didn't know about Draco's Firebolt as the few who knew about Draco saving her, thought that he chased off a dementor, not that he ran away from the dementor on his new broom. Hermione thought about telling Ron so Harry would know and even out the literal playing field, but telling them felt like betraying Draco. "You're right." Plus, there was still the fact that an almost immature part of her was still bitter.

Ron smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'I know.' Hermione's eyes drifted back to Draco as she ate her pancakes. She hadn't missed that he sat with his back to her all day yesterday or how he and Pansy sat facing them today. _ And _ I'm _ the one he doesn't find to be subtle? _ She rolled her eyes and continued eating her food while reading the etiquette book she had propped up on a milk pitcher. She tried to stay focused on the book, but every so often she would find her eyes drifting over to where Draco was, hoping that she didn't completely burn her barely built bridge with him.

——————————————

_ Don't go to the music room. Don't leave Pansy. You don't want to be her friend. _

"I don't get it, Drakey." Pansy pouted as she placed her chin in her hands. He was trying to teach her how to play Wizard's Chest except despite her reassurances that she wanted to learn, she was acting the complete opposite. "And they keep yelling at me! I can't think!" Draco stopped rubbing his temples at that. She was right, nearly all of her pieces had turned to face her, all shouting for her to listen to Draco as he was genuinely trying to teach her. One rook had even gotten off the chair he was supposed to be sitting on, and waved it at her threateningly.

"Don't call me that- just." He rubbed his face and looked at her. _ Hermione is literally more fun to be around than Crabbe, Goyle, _ and _ Pansy even on days she’s just studying instead of talking to me. _ "Ugh!" He raked a hand through his hair and gripped it. With his other hand he motioned to the chess pieces. "Let's do something else." Draco had been watching the clock anxiously, almost against his will. Hermione knew he wasn't going to be available after classes due to his last quidditch practice of the season, and asked for him to meet her after dinner. Now it was an hour until curfew, and while he was determined to stay his ground, underground in his common room, he was internally trying to fight off the interest he had in what she had to say.

"No, I can do this." Pansy feigned concentration for the twentieth time and Draco let his head fall into his hands while she pretended to think about the different strategies he had went through. With how much he had been pulling at his hair, the gel he used to keep it in place had worn off. Allowing his hair to curl softly towards the ends.

_ You don't care. She's a spoiled brat. You shouldn't have even tried in the first place. _

"You know, I thought you would have gave in by now." Theo said in such a thoughtful manner while he worked on his Arithmancy homework, that Draco would have thought Theo was talking to himself if he hadn't already been thinking about Hermione and the music room.

"He should have given in by now." Blaise gave a sigh, dropping the book he had. "She apologized to _ me-_"

"_ Pansy _," Draco emphasized the name as a signal for his two friends to stop talking about Hermione. "Is trying to think. Can you two stop talking?"

Theo turned back to his school work with a smug expression while Blaise turned to lay on his stomach. Laying on the couch that way, he was facing Draco and Pansy, allowing him to stare at Draco with a hard expression.

"I think I'm going to move- this one?" Pansy pointed to a bishop, but it did not move.

"You have to say it without question and how many places you want to move it, Pans." Draco glanced at the clock again. A little over five minutes had passed. He told himself he would stay in the common room until curfew, but Pansy was not grasping the concept of the game, and Draco's patience was nearly gone.

"I wonder if Potter knows about the Firebolt." Blaise said nonchalantly. Draco froze, staring at the chess set, slowly watching the Bishop move as Pansy said her command. The move took out one of his pawns, but he hardly noticed or cared as he thought of what that meant if Hermione had informed her team that Draco had a Firebolt. It would change everything if Gryffindor knew. He would never admit it out loud, but they had a rather good team. "Word does spread pretty fast around here." Draco knew what Blaise really meant with the last statement: _ She could have told them by now, you should check. _

_ Why did I not think of that before? If I was Hermione, _ I _ would have told my house team. _

"It doesn't really matter now anyway- the game is tomorrow. If they know, they know. We can't change how we're going to play in one night after months of practice." Theo said, glancing up at Draco to meet his eyes.

Draco knew Theo was right. However, when Draco looked from Theo to Blaise and locked eyes, Draco knew that he was taking the bait the Italian had laid out. "I need to go for a walk."

"But the game! We're not done!" Pansy looked up at Draco as he stood, her eyes pleading with him to stay.

"We're both tired and I'm anxious about the game tomorrow. We can finish this another time."

Pansy gave a thoughtful look before deciding to accept his promise of them hanging out another day. "Okay." She smiled and walked off towards the girls' dorm.

Theo sat back into his chair. "It's not worth it. Why be friends with someone of her caliber when-"

"Is that what I sound like?" Draco said almost absentmindedly.

"That's exactly what you sound like." Blaise replied without looking up from his book.

Draco chuckled as Theo's stare hardened. "Relax, I just want to know if she told them anything-_ if _ she's still there." Draco felt stupid for waiting until the final hour to decide to go. There was a very high chance that she wasn't in the room anymore.

"Sure." Theo rolled his eyes and gathered his things to go back to the dorm. "Just be back before Filch has the chance to catch you. It'd be nice to get the Quidditch Cup _ and _ the House Cup this year."

Draco left the commons without another word, knowing that he was practically going to have to run to the music room and back if he wanted to beat the curfew.

Theo looked down at Blaise who was currently stretching and yawning on the couch. "What was that?"

Blaise took his time finishing his yawn before sitting up on the couch. "Hmm?"

"_ Why _ are you so hell-bent on them being friends? Granger is-"

"Different." Blaise finished for him. "That is the same mentality that caused other people to bully me and look down at me, Theo." He paused, waiting to see if Theo would say anything. When he didn't Blaise continued. "I don't want them to be friends, but if he decides she's not worth it, I rather it be from _ who _ she is and not _ what _ she is."

Theo scoffed. "'Neutral' my arse. You're a hypocrite."

Blaise grinned as he stood and stretched again before letting his hands flop on his thighs. "Maybe, but at least I am a free thinker." Blaise walked over to Theo and leaned in his ear, whispering as if someone would over hear them. "I never had a dad to tell me what to think and how to think. It's an experience I highly recommend."

Blaise winked as Theo drew back, completely offended, before turning to retreat into the boys dorm. Theo tried not to think too hard about what Blaise said. Especially since it was too late to question his father with Nott Sr. had planned for summer.

——————

Hermione glanced down at her watch. _ Thirty minutes till curfew ends. _ She knew Filch was already in the hallway, trying to scare off any stragglers wandering around. Hermione grabbed the present she had off the piano seat she was sitting on, and started to make her way to the door. She was disappointed that he didn't come, but she didn't blame him for not wanting to see her.

Hermione was thinking about how early she would need to wake so Persephone could deliver the gift before the game tomorrow, and without anyone noticing she had disappeared when Draco walked into the room. They both froze, neither of them knowing how to react or what to say for once.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione closed most of the distance between them and held out the black velvet gift box. He took it slowly and opened it to reveal a scarf. When he picked it up, he noticed that it wasn't just any scarf, but a vintage, Slytherin scarf. The green was much darker along with the gray lines accenting it. The fabric was slightly heavier than the current scarves students could purchase and the Slytherin crest was much more intricate. "Where did you get this?"

"Narcissa." Hermione took a step closer and watched his reaction to it. "I think it was either her scarf or Lucius' scarf... I did add something to the back of it though." She made to flip over the side that had the crest, but drew her hand back deciding against it. Draco flipped it over and saw that she had embroidered his constellation on to it. Underneath it was his name and-

"'Quidditch Champion - 1994'?" Draco raised an eyebrow and couldn't stop the smile forcing it's way onto his face. He had never received a gift like this before- and he had received _ a lot _ of gifts. Jewelry, trips to exotic places, the most expensive tools and brooms, but none had ever been so personal before nor this simple either. He traced a finger over the constellation, noticing there seemed to be gems where the stars should be. "Are they-"

"They're not diamonds or anything. Hermione blushed a little from embarrassed realizing he may not have liked the touch. "They're gems, I just thought it would have added a little _ something _ to the scarf and I didn't think I could ask your mother for several diamonds or anything."

He raised an eyebrow, smirking at her. "You think she wouldn't have delivered them?"

She gave a small laugh. "No, I know she probably would have, but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it." They both laughed and she ran a hand over her head. "I really would like for us to be friends, you know. I don't care which team wins and I will be rooting for Harry, but I would also be rooting for you." Her eyebrows came together as she thought about what she said. "I feel a bit wrong saying that, but I care for both of you and it's true."

Draco thought about what he said and decided he wouldn't get upset over it. "I like it." He lifted one end of the scarf again as if he was appraising it. "Even if it isn't worth a single galleon." He was clearly joking and she rewarded him was a punch in his arm, reminding him of the book he threw at her. "But if we're going to be friends, you need to stop hitting me."

Hermione's eyes widened as she thought about how Lucius had abused him throughout the years. "That was stupid of me."

"It's just your reaction- brute force is a trait Gryffindor's have." She smiled again and rolled her eyes. "So are Potty and Weasel going to be accepting of us hanging out?" He kept his eyes on the scarf, focusing on the details of her work instead of looking at her. _ Everyone at arm's length... _

"I figured we would continue to keep it a secret."

Draco looked up at that, feeling the weight from his shoulders disappear. "You, keep a secret from them? _ Impossible _." Draco sent the last word in a very thick French accent to keep their moods light.

"Oh, stop." Hermione giggled and looped a finger into her collar to pull out the gold chain of the time-turner. "What's one more secret?" It was a front, it still unnerved her to keep secrets from them, but she learned a bit about being independant being without them for nearly four months.

Draco nodded once, noticing she was wearing the ring that he often kept on her necklace, but decided to comment on it another time. "_ Touché _.”

Her eyes fell to the floor as she debated doing something she had contemplated since he walked in. "We're... We are going to be friends, right?" She thought about him eating with Pansy earlier, and wondered if he was trying to make it apparent that he was trying to replace her.

Draco opened his mouth to crack another joke, right as she looked back up at him. He imagined her doll eyes would become a weakness for him. "Friends." He stuck out a hand like he had for Harry on their train first year. He expected for her to shake his hand but instead she smiled a smile that did not allow any room for her huge buck teeth to hide, and threw her arms around him.

His hands flew to her shoulders as it was his immediate reaction to push her off, especially when the hair on the top of her head stood straight up, assaulting his sharp nose. It forced her smell of honey and citrus to be inhaled and he couldn't say he was mad at how lovely the smells were. He hesitated to hug her back at first, and used a hand to smooth down the hair on her head, deciding to test if she would pull away. He thought it was stupid for him to do that as _ she _ was hugging _ him _, but Draco was always on guard. When he was sure she wasn't going to pull away, he wrapped his arms around her, taking a deep breath as his eyes drifted lower.

Draco could feel the rush of endorphins that his body was sending throughout his body. He liked hugs, and was so deprived of them that he forgot how nice it felt to receive one. His eyes had almost drifted fully shut when she jumped back looking up at him wide-eyed. "Curfew!" Hermione looked at her watch and saw they had two minutes until Filch and Mrs. Norris would be hunting the halls, detentions at the ready.

Draco and Hermione slipped out into the hallway, but did not move from behind the tapestry. Draco scanned the hall and turned to Hermione, nodding to let her know that the coast was clear. Both of them took off in a sprint, heading to opposite staircases that would take them both back to their respective common rooms. Draco was just about to descend his staircase when she called out to him.

"Wait," He turned and saw she was already up three steps on the one leading to Gryffindor tower. "Good luck tomorrow."

He smiled and she ran up the staircase. Draco was able to make it back to the dungeons without any issues. He was grateful that Theo had not decided to wait up for Draco as he realized after climbing into bed that he completely forgot to ask about the Firebolt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you sticking through these last two chapters guys and thank you again for reading.


	22. Year Three: Part IX (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Suicide attempt mention (literally just referring back to when she tried.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Draco Malfoy flew around the quidditch field with one eye on Harry and the other on the field. Gryffindor was currently in the lead with thirty points- the points were gained due to penalties they were awarded thanks to the Slytherin beaters, Derrick and Bole. The two gigantic beaters had repeatedly targeted the Gryffindor chasers which wouldn't of had been an issue, of course, _ if _they were actually using the Bludgers to hit the opposing players. Instead, they had been grabbing their heads or throwing the Beater's club at them.

Draco was upset at his teammates for being too blatant in what they were doing, and allowing Gryffindor to have an early lead in the game. If he was in any other house, he may have even been embarrassed, but Slytherin house was known to be the 'by-any-means-necessary' house and was already looked down on by the rest of Hogwarts. As proof of this, nearly three quarters of Hogwarts were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving blood red flags or brandishing banners with supportive slogans for the Gryffindor team. The last quarter of Hogwarts, which was almost completely Slytherin save for a handful of Hufflepuffs and a couple of Ravenclaws, were all wearing green and silver- including Snape. A few of the Hufflepuffs had made signs, but the Slytherins who did bring house merch had flags with a glittering serpent on it.

Looking at the flags, Draco allowed his eyes to glance at Hermione who was sitting in the front row between Lee Jordan, the announcer for the quidditch games, and Ronald Weasley. Earlier, Draco had woke up to Crookshanks in his room again, but while he was searching through his drawer for a treat to give the cat, he found a small silver Slytherin serpent pin. An idea popped into his head and he had Crookshanks deliver the pin to Hermione to wear. During breakfast, when she was able to catch his attention after the Gryffindor team left the Great Hall, she lifted one side of her collar revealing the pin. If he hadn't had the trained eyes of a seeker or knew what he was looking for, he wouldn't have been able to spot the silver glint. A part of him genuinely wanted her to wear something in support of him, but another part simply liked the idea that she would be wearing something for him that would drive her best friends mad. Draco didn't mind she hid it from plain sight as she is in his rival house, but knowing she was wearing it meant just as much as the two hundred Slytherin fans showing their support.

"...- THAT WAS DELIBERATE!" Lee Jordan shouted into the magical microphone.

Draco looked down at the players to see Katie Bell, a Gryffindor Chaser, rubbing her head. From Draco's guess, he inferred that one of his teammates had grabbed her head while she had the Quaffle. Madam Hooch had already blown her whistle and was shouting at Montague for such a dirty move. When Madam Hooch was done, Angelina Johnson, a second Gryffindor chaser, took the penalty and scored ten points.

"FORTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING-"

"Jordan," Professor McGonagall's could be heard in the background of Jordan's microphone loud and clear. "If you can't commentate in an unbiased way-!"

"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"

Draco gave a small laugh at that, but searched the sky for Harry. He found the dark haired Gryffindor looking at the Slytherin goalposts, getting ready to dive. Draco dove with Harry at the same time, frantically searching for the snitch Harry apparently saw. Draco saw a Bludger fly by, hit by Derrick who tried aiming at Harry. Another Bludger, hit by Bole, came a lot closer to Draco.

WHOOSH.

Draco was disappointed when the second Bludger simply grazed Harry's elbow. Damn, that would have been an excellent blow. _ If it would have hit the his elbow just right he might have had to be pulled from the game... _ Draco turned to say something to Bole, but he and Derrick were coming in fast. Draco automatically dipped his broom lower to zoom out of their way as they zeroed in on Harry. Draco was disappointed for the second time when Harry pulled his broom up at the last second, allowing the two beaters to collide with a crunch. Harry gave a small laugh before heading in the opposite direction, without another glance to the goalposts he was rushing towards before.

Draco grit his teeth before following the other seeker. Harry was known for bluffing seekers and when Draco registered that Harry had not even attempted to use the top speed of the Firebolt when diving, had his annoyance turn into anger realizing he fell for Harry's trick. "Trying to fake me out, Potter?" Harry glanced over his shoulder before stopping, one hand on his broom with the other resting on his thigh.

"How badly did you have to beg your father to send you that Firebolt, Malfoy?"

Draco's face split into a nasty sneer. When Draco initially went out on to the quidditch field today, he didn't miss the shocked looks that the Gryffindor house had when they realized he was holding a Firebolt of his own. Almost everyone in the stands shared their concerned whispers with one another, except from Ron, who started shouting. Draco guessed Ron had asked Hermione mid-tirade if she knew about the broom because the next moment she was shaking her exuberant mass of hair as if to say 'no.'

"Jealous my father is still around, Potter?"

Harry's hands curled into fists and Draco gave a haughty laugh as he flew past him. Flint had scored a point, but while Draco kept both ears listening to the commentary, he now focused both eyes on the field, determined to spot the Snitch before Harry. _ I need to catch the Snitch. If they score two more times they'll be able to catch the Snitch and win the cup. _ Draco repeated this to himself several times, willing himself to stay focused on his task. Unlike Gryffindor, Draco was eligible to catch the snitch at any point in time to win the cup. It was his only task, but it was the most important task.

After the faux snitch sighting, the game had gotten even more dirty. While Slytherin had came into the game with their underhanded tricks, Gryffindor was starting to retaliate just as hard. The match had become the most dirtiest game Draco had ever played in, and perhaps even dirtier than any game he had witnessed. Both teams had just been awarded penalties for their actions just now, but unfortunately, Gryffindor's keeper was much better at blocking than the Slytherin keeper.

When the score was fifty to ten after Katie scored, Fred and George Weasley swooped around her, their Beater clubs raised to protect her. Derrick and Bole took advantage of the Weasleys leaving the rest of their team open and aimed both Bludgers at Wood who was the Gryffindor Keeper. Both caught Wood in the stomach and Draco groaned as Madam Hooch awarded Gryffindor with another penalty as the Quaffle was not within their scoring area, deeming the attack dishonorable. He admitted, to himself, that he agreed the move to be unnecessary.

Draco wasn't surprised when Angelina scored again putting the Gryffindor team exactly sixty points in the lead. Shortly after, Fred Wesley pelted a Bludger at a Slytherin chaser, Crabbe, who was holding the Quaffle. The Quaffle fell out of his hands, allowing Alicia to seize it and quickly score another ten points. Within minutes, Gryffindor was now seventy points in the lead and their house was screaming themselves hoarse.

The stakes had never been higher in the game, and Draco could feel the pressure as hundreds of eyes started to pay more attention to the two seekers. So long as Gryffindor kept their lead, they now had a fifty-fifty chance of winning. Draco decided his best tactic was to continue staying close to Harry as they scanned the field for the Snitch, making sure that when the boys did race for the coveted tiny ball, they would be starting from the same point.

However, the Snitch appeared again before Draco could get close to Harry, and it just so happened that Harry was the one who saw it seconds before Draco did. With the fastest broom in the world those seconds could have easily put miles between them- especially when the snitch was only twenty feet above Harry. Draco immediately shot after him, but could already see it would be of no use.

So Draco did the only thing he could do: He weaved his fingers into the stiff bristles of Harry's Firebolt and pulled back. He hoped the Snitch would fly off before Harry could catch it or else his effort would be in vain. Harry's Firebolt started to slow down, and when the dark haired boy looked back to see why that was, his broom slowed down even more due to his concentration waning.

"You-!" Harry looked like he wanted to hit Draco, but didn't, knowing he could not reach. Draco's arm ached at the effort, and strength it took to hold on to the Firebolt, but he was able to achieve what he intended. Finally letting go, he sneered as Harry realized that the Snitch had disappeared while he was looking back at Draco.

"Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!" Madam Hooch screeched as she flew up to Draco, reminding him of the rules of quidditch players and their brooms. Draco, of course, already knew the rules and was aware that the move would result in another penalty. While pretending to be hanging his head in an attempt to be apologetic, he looked at the Gryffindor goalpost for Hermione. Lee Jordan was screaming into the mic in a biased manner again, but Professor McGonagall seemed too busy to be shouting and wagging a finger at Draco to care. Between the Professors deep red robes and Ron's fiery red hair, he could make out Hermione's brunette head. He squinted and thought he had caught a smile while she was shaking her head.

"Malfoy, do I make myself clear?"

Draco's head snapped up, aware he needed to come back to the playing field. "Yes, Ma'am." Madam Hooch huffed, then flew off as she blew her whistle, signaling for Alicia to take the penalty. Alicia, so angry about Draco's foul on Harry, missed the goal by several feet. All of the Slytherin team laughed and their supporters gave a small cheer.

Draco resumed flying around the field, but Harry was marking Malfoy so closely their knees kept hitting each other.

"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for the goal aaannnddd Montague scores-" Lee groaned. "Which makes the score Seventy-Twenty."

Draco started to smile hearing the news, but Harry's knee bumped into him again making the almost smile disappear. "Get out of it, Potter!

Harry started to reply, but Lee's voice drowned out most of what Harry was saying, "Angelina Johnson gets the Quaffle for Gryffindor, come on Angelina, COME ON!"

Harry and Draco both looked down to see every single Slytherin player, aside from Draco, streaking down the pitch in an attempt to block Alicia from scoring. Draco barely had enough time to blink while Harry soared lower in an attempt to intervene with the play so his chaser could score. Draco recognized the play for what it actually was though: a distraction. Flint had created this play, one that included every team member, including the keeper, to approach the chaser trying to score as a mass distraction so the Seeker could locate the what Flint had spotted. Draco looked down to see Flint pointing ever so slightly to his right and Draco saw it. The golden Snitch.

Without hesitation, Draco dived at a speed so fast, free-falling would have been a slower pace.

"SHE SCORES! SHE SCORES! Gryffindor's in the lead, eighty points to twenty!" Whatever Harry had done must have worked as Lee shouted into the mic, but Draco didn't care. This was one of those scenarios where Lucius would have been right: the Seeker determined who won the game. The distraction was over and even though Draco knew he had to be flying at breakneck speed, he felt he wasn't flying fast enough. Go, go, go! The Firebolt seemed to obey his silent command and nearly everything, but the Snitch that he had his full attention on, turned into a blur.

Draco faintly processed Harry flying towards him as Draco took his right hand off the broom, stretched out to grab the Snitch. In two seconds, Draco would have been able to close his fist around the Snitch, but Harry smacked Draco's hand away to replace it with his own. No!-

Right before Harry would have closed his fingers around the Snitch though, Draco had released his left hand from his broom and snaked it beneath Harry's gloved hand. Draco felt his slender fingers close around the gold ball in the very last fraction of a second before Harry's would have and he wanted to cry from the feeling that erupted in his chest.

_ We won the house cup! We won- _ Draco's eyes widened as his stomach fluttered when he processed he was starting to slip off the broom. Draco hastily put his right hand back on the broom and used everything he had to try and pull up from his dive. Draco could feel his Firebolt actually _ shudder _ from gravity and magic fighting each other, but he managed not to crash after pulling his legs in, stopping inches form the ground.

Draco's heart was pounding almost painfully in his ears from the adrenaline of almost crashing and from catching the snitch. He hovered there for a few seconds, holding the snitch so close to his chest that he could feel the breeze from the wings under his chin. When Draco looked up, his team was just landing next to him, huge smiles on all of their faces- including Crabbe's. Draco put his walls back up to hide his shock from almost dying and thrust the fist clutching the snitch into the air. He felt completely elated as everyone cheered around him, enjoying being in the spotlight. Derrick and Bole lifted him into the air as the students who supported the Slytherin team flooded the fields. Flint had retrieved the house cup from Dumbledore and was holding it above his head as he cheered. Draco looked over the surrounding sea of green and silver to look for Harry. Draco reckoned that he would find Hermione with him, and he was right.

Harry had his broom clutched in one hand and was awkwardly patting the shoulder of a weeping Oliver Wood. Draco hoped he could catch Hermione's eye before being carried off, but Wood decided to turn his angst on her. "You knew, didn't you? You knew he had a bloody Firebolt and didn't say anything!"

Draco barely caught the brief flash of guilt on her face before she took her defensive stance. She crossed her arms over her chest, ready to let the Gryffindor captain have a piece of her mind, but Ron stood in front of her. Ron was completely blocking Wood from coming any closer to her as he made to step away from Harry's comforting hand. "She didn't. I already asked her about it."

"She's lying! There is no way she lives with Malfoy and doesn't know-"

The crowd between Draco and Hermione thickened and he could no longer hear the rest of the conversation as the beaters carried him off with the Slytherin fans cheering behind them. Draco reluctantly turned his attention back to the crowd just as Marcus Flint started to yell about the party in the Slytherin common room. The beaters placed Draco back down and Pansy threw her arms around him. He allowed it for a few seconds before pulling her off as it was too uncomfortable in the heat of the crowd.

Draco tried not to think about the worry that prickled in his head about Hermione being left with an angry Wood or if she was going to be upset about the cheating Slytherin did to win. He instead shifted his focus on the long night his common room would be having as they celebrated being the Hogwarts Quidditch Champions of 1994.

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_ Its not that bad. _ Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in the window pane she transfigured into a mirror again, turning her head to the left, then to the right before making her eyebrows arch. Hermione had never paid much attention to her looks, but the cut in her eyebrow had started to change that. She thought Lavender would cry tears of joy if she saw Hermione spending this much time looking in a mirror- even if she wasn't doing it to put on make up.

"You should pick up Divination again." Hermione jumped in her seat and whipped around to see Draco. "Your prediction on the scarf came true."

Hermione clutched her chest and closed her eyes, immediately trying to calm herself from the scare. After a few deep breaths, she spoke. "Another cellist, Devil's Snare, a three headed dog, a basilisk, and _ two _ dementors. All of these things have tried to kill me yet, you are the only one who has come close to succeeding." Hermione looked at him with watery eyes as she tried to will her heart to stay in her chest. The jest was a bit tasteless, but Hermione's mood started to darken with the end of the school year coming to a close. In a little over a month, it would be the one year anniversary of her parent's death. "How was the party? I was worried about you almost crashing but..."

Draco gave a soft chuckle as he sat in to the chair opposite hers in the alcove of the library. The game was two days ago and it was the first time that Draco was able to break free of an entourage- always led by Pansy- to have some privacy. Neither he nor Hermione tried to contact each other, with so many eyes on Draco, Hermione was unsure if it was safe to send Crookshanks a second time to the dungeons. Draco didn't try reach out to her as he was unsure if she would be upset about Slytherin's tactics in the game. "I'll never look at Hufflepuffs the same way again, they know how to party _ too well. _ I was fine, but I heard that Wood tried to pin the loss on you?" Draco looked down at his nail beds so he did not have to see Hermione angry at him again if she tried to lecture him about the game.

Hermione snorted and he looked up at the noise to see she had pulled out her wand. He eyed her suspiciously until he saw that she was casting the _ Notice-Me-Not _ charm. "He did. Try, I mean." Draco was impressed that she had cast the charm sufficiently. It was difficult for third years, as proven by Theo in the second game Gryffindor played, and was nearly N.E.W.T level magic. "Ron stood up for me though, which in turn caused Harry and the twins to back me up. _ Muffliato. _ And there was also the small fact of Slytherin _ cheating _." Hermione looked at Draco then with a stern look, but her eyes were playful.

Draco wanted to make a comment on how the twins were the only Weasley's that were worth more than a Knut, but restrained himself. He scratched his cheek with an index finger to buy time before asking the question he really wanted an answer to. "So, you're not mad?"

Hermione looked at him with an amused expression. "Mad? Contrary to popular belief, quidditch is _ not _ the biggest thing in the world." Draco gave her a disbelieving look. "I may have also convinced myself that your win was the last piece in my revenge so I am no longer mad at Harry or Ron." Draco burst out laughing at that and she smiled. "It was an interesting match, comical even." Hermione's smile started to dim as she continued. "I almost feel a bit bad for Wood- apparently his parents made an arrangement with Dumbledore for a scout to watch the game and he's sure he won't hear back from him." Hermione looked depressed and a hundred kilometres away when she finished speaking. Draco didn't like seeing her like that, but was aware that the anniversary of her parents' death was coming soon. He expected to see more of her depressed side as each day passed, but for the moment, Draco was set on keeping up a conversation with her to stop her from wallowing in her despair for too long.

"I was, ah, enthused to see you wearing the pin." Draco rubbed the back of his neck. He did not want to sound like a complete sap saying he was happy to see her support, but he didn't enjoy that he sounded like one of the old wizards his father occasionally signed contracts with.

Hermione half-smiled as she remembered the look on Draco's face when he saw the pin. He had quickly turned away so no one caught them communicating in the great hall, but not before she saw recognition appear on his face followed by a real smile. It wasn't a smirk, a sneer, or a calculated grin, but it was a honest-to-Godric smile. The kind that made the corners of your eyes crinkle because it was so pure. "I'm happy you were so _ enthused _, Mr. Malfoy." She teased. Draco leaned over and flipped her book closed in response to her teasing, "Hey!"

He laughed at her expression before leaning back into the chair, Narcissa would have chastised him for the poor posture he had at Hogwarts, but he hardly worried about it. "Relax, you were on page one hundred and ninety-two."

Hermione glared at him before flipping the book open to the page he stated. Satisfied that it was the right page, she eased the tension in her face as she no longer had a reason to be upset. "You're a menace to society, Draco Malfoy." Hermione picked up her quill and positioned her hand so she could resume taking notes.

Draco watched her for a moment and wished he had his art supplies with him. The sun was hitting her face so perfectly that her cheekbones and freckles were highlighted in a flattering way. She had her hair down for the first time in ages and with her taking notes from her textbook, she looked so _ Granger _. The thought struck a chord within Draco as he fully digested that if her parents hadn't died, she wouldn't be Hermione to him. She would still be _ Granger _ or _ mudblood _. He cleared his throat not wanting to settle into his own pit of despair. "Where did you run into Devil's Snare or a three-headed dog?"

Hermione froze for a second, but resumed her writing hoping her pause went unnoticed. She needed to buy herself time to think of a lie. "What?" _ Why did I say that earlier? _

"On the list of things you mentioned that threatened to kill you- you had mentioned Devil's Snare and a Three-Headed dog." Draco watched her carefully. Her voice had raised a pitch and he knew whatever she had to say was going to be interesting. "Neither are common things to come across."

"You're not going to ask about the other cellist? That's much more riveting, I think." Hermione glanced up at Draco and wished she hadn't spoken in the first place. She knew from how he was starting to lean in that she had completely piqued his interest and he was not going to let it go.

"You're terribly good, I'm sure they just threatened you after you had embarrassed them or they threatened you to withdraw from a competition so they had a chance to take home the prize."

Hermione blinked as the second guess was exactly what happened. When she decided to speak, she pointed her special quill at him with a smile, "That was definitely a compliment. Admit it, you like my playing."

"Stop trying to change the subject as I will admit to nothing other wise." Hermione frowned that her attempt at distracting him did not work. She looked outside the window weighing the pros and cons of telling Draco about her, Harry, and Ron's adventure on trying to get the sorcerer's stone before Snape- or rather, Professor Quill- could get to it. Hermione involuntarily shivered as she thought of Voldemort possessing someone's body. "You all right? You know, if I have to take you to the infirmary I'm still going to make you tell me your story." He half teased as he looked her over, concerned about her mental state again.

She glanced at him and flashed a small smile. "I'm fine." Hermione took a deep breath and leaned in, glancing at the Library hall to make sure no one was there. She knew with the charms up that she didn't need to worry, however, eleven years of living without magic made her rely on her first six senses for reassurance. "You can not tell _ anyone _." Hermione stuck out her pinky finger, but Draco just stared at her with one eyebrow raised.

"What are you doing?"

"You don't know what a pinky promise is?"

"A _ what _?" Draco wanted to laugh at the name, but Hermione was too serious for him to allow the laugh to happen.

"It's..." Hermione thought about the best way to explain it. "It's the muggle version of the Unbreakable Vow. Instead we won't die, but we'll cut our pinkys off if the promise is broken."

"_ What _?" He repeated, slightly horrified that muggles would think of such a thing. "No, I will not do a _ Pinky Promise _." He said the name with disgust as he shook his head.

Hermione was slightly affronted as she assumed it was due to it being a muggle thing, but decided to use his disgust to her advantage. "Fine." She leaned back and resumed her previous posture so she could continue taking notes. "No pinky promise, no story. Now are you going to study with me or not?" Draco glared at her before picking up another Arithmancy book she had by her and opened it. Hermione grinned at being able to keep her adventure a secret and continued studying.

Draco could not focus on the textbook he had in front of him, though. His prying nature screamed at him to just make the promise, but he argued that the idea behind it was too creepy for his comfort. He eyed her as she took notes and even minutes later, she still had faint traces of a grin on her face. _ She's laughing at me. _ Seeing that, he grit his teeth and stuck his own pinky out.

Hermione looked up from her parchment to see Draco with a more than determined look on his face as he held out his fist, pinky raised. She hoped that he would never bring it up again after calling his bluff, but she felt like she should have known better than to hope for so much with him. Draco had always been eager for information, constantly sticking his nose where it had no place being. "What are you doing?"

"Come off it." He extended his arm fully so it was now on her side of the table, waiting for her to grab it.

Hermione rolled her eyes before linking her pinky with his and kissing her hand. He was completely surprised at the kiss, but was even more surprised when Hermione extended her arm, pinkies still tied together, so he could do the same. "Go on, then."

He was completely bewildered at the gesture and shook his head. "No."

Hermione did her best imitation of a smirk he had given to her many times. "You're going to let a kiss on your own hand stop you from hearing about my _ completely mundane _ tale of my encounters with-"

"It's embarrassing." He hissed. Draco could feel his cheeks turn a light pink. _ If Theo or Blaise saw me they'd never stop having a laugh _. "You're just trying to humiliate me into not doing it so you can avoid telling me what happened."

Hermione opened her mouth to deny it, but gave an expression that was both unsure and amused, hoping he would back out. "Is it working?"

Draco's look before he gave his own hand a chaste peck was one that would have killed her if looks had the strength. "No."

Hermione wanted to say she was disappointed, but was surprisingly indifferent to telling Draco what happened. Her heart no longer clenched at the idea of trusting him although her stomach did flutter with the caution that she felt. _ Obviously I can't tell him every detail. I'll have to omit quite a bit. _ "Do you remember when Dumbledore said we couldn't go to the south wing of the second floor corridor first year?" Draco nodded. He remembered all too well as it was common practice for the older Slytherins to threaten the younger students by forcing them to go down the corridor. Draco had even been brought up there once by a seventh year boy, but Filch had been patrolling the hall that afternoon so the boy let Draco go, promising to bring him to the hall another time. Draco immediately ran to write a letter to his father about the event and the seventh year boy didn't even look in Draco's direction for he rest of the year. "Well, we did. Harry, Ron and I."

Hermione was suddenly fixated at a smudge stain in her parchment, waiting for Draco to reply. "I don't know how you Gryffindors manage to stay alive, honestly." She glared at him but he waved a hand for her to continue.

"Behind one of the doors was a three-headed dog. He was, ah, a pet." Hermione thought about how Hagrid had the oddest obsession with collecting creatures who were predators by nature and made a face. "We were running from Filch- we weren't exactly looking for anything-"

"Why were you running from Filch?"

Hermione's face bunched up, trying to remember. "I reckon we were out past curfew."

"Woah, Hermione Granger, Swot Extraordinaire, would break curfew?" Draco was completely amused at her tale already.

"_ We _ broke curfew the other day." Hermione raised an eyebrow at Draco. "It's not that big of a deal-"

"Who are you and what have you done with the real, Hermione?" Draco laughed as she bunched up blank parchment and threw it at him.

"You are a git!" She was smiling at his dramatics though. "Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?"

"Yes, yes, I'll stop." He stopped laughing and smiled lazily at her, resting his chin on his hand.

"No more interruptions." She pointed a finger at him as a warning before continuing. "Well, we had backed up into the room so far that Fluffy," Hermione wanted to kick herself for telling him the name of Hagrid's pet, "Had put himself between us and the door to get back into the hallway. So..." _ Don't tell him about playing music. _"There was a trap door in the room and we escaped through that. Except it landed us in a pit of Devil's Snare."

"In the castle-"

"No interruptions."

Draco couldn't help, but feel there were holes in her story. "But how did you get out? _ Why _ is there Devil's Snare _ inside _ the castle?"

Hermione paused. _ Think, Hermione, think! _ "After Ron and I thought of a way to be released from the Devil's Snare, we followed the tunnel the trap door left us in. It brought us to another door in the entrance hall." Hermione ignored the second question as she looked out the window again..

Draco was confused by her story, though. "That doesn't make sense. Why have the corridor blocked off to hide a three-headed dog and some Devil's Snare? I would imagine it would be guarding _ something _ at least."

"Maybe the dog was guarding the Devil's Snare?" Hermione tried, but even to her ears, her voice did not sound convincing.

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "You're hiding something. There is no way that there was a three headed dog guarding the Devil's Snare, nor would you accept that without finding out the answer yourself."

Hermione was completely taken aback with how perceptive Draco was shrugged one shoulder trying to seem nonchalant. "I can't exactly ask Dumbledore, you know."

Draco opened his mouth to point something else out, but he and Hermione both heard something- or rather someone- who reminded him on why he ran to the library in the first place. "Drakey!"

Hermione looked over her shoulder towards the noise then looked at Draco, a smile creeping on her face. "Drakey?"

"Don't you _ ever _-"

"Drakey, where arrre youuuuuu?" Pansy half whispered in a sing-song cadence, her voice already sounding much closer than it initially had. Pansy seemed to be getting more and more brave with each passing day when it came to Draco, and was no longer hesitant to follow him into a library.

Draco cursed before standing. "I want the truth next time, Granger." He started to walk towards the end of the book case, glancing up and down the hall before attempting to slip out.

"Whatever you say, _ Drakey._" Draco glared at her before gritting his teeth and disappearing down the hall, not wanting to risk even a few seconds with banter in case Pansy found them together.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. Not once did she ever think she would be grateful for Pansy's existence, but Hermione appreciated the time the Slytherin girl bought her to straighten out a story that would satisfy any questions Draco had if he remembered to bring the story up again.

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"Have either of you seen my copy of _ Numerology and Gramatica _?"

"Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading." Said Ron, earning him a glare from Hermione. She chose to continue looking around her regular place of study in the common room instead of replying. She was shifting parchment and other books around on the table when Hedwig fluttered in the room and on to Harry's lap.

Harry removed the note from Hedwig's beak. "It's from Hagrid. Buckbeak's appeal is set for the sixth of June."

"That's the day we finish our exams." Hermione said almost absentmindedly.

"And they're coming here to do it." He said still reading from the letter. "Someone from the Ministry, Lucius Malfoy," Hermione looked back at Harry hearing that. "and-"

"And an executioner?" Ron finished, who was reading over Harry's shoulder.

"They're bringing the executioner to the appeal? That sounds as though they've already decided!" Hermione waved her hands in the air, completely agitated at the Ministry's decision.

"Yeah, it does." Harry replied grimly.

"They can't! You spent _ ages _ reading up on stuff for him; they can't just ignore it all!" Ron motioned to Hermione who was taken surprised for a moment on his acknowledgement. What was left of her honest nature urged her to tell them she didn't do it by herself, but she knew now was _ definitely _ not the right time to mention Draco, let alone say they were friends.

"This has to be all Lucius Malfoy's doing." Ron said scowling. "Him and his son are the biggest ass-"

"Ron!" Hermione said, slightly pink in the face. "Language, please." Hermione turned back to looking for her book, ignoring all the snide comments Ron and Harry were making about Lucius and Draco. She could agree with most of their statements about Lucius, but she couldn't stand the fact that she couldn't defend Draco like she would defend Harry and Ron if it was Draco speaking ill of them.

When she finally found her copy of _ Numerology and Gramatica _, she grabbed the note that Harry had left on the seat next to him and Ron. Hermione did not bother to hide her duplicating the letter from her friends as they would assume she was using the letter to keep track of the events regarding Buckbeak for his appeal. She slipped the copy of the letter into her book before heading up to the girls dorm and sending Crookshanks off to deliver the copy to Draco.

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"They can't kill Buckbeak, we worked too hard on building that case." Draco hissed under his breath. Draco had somehow managed to get Hermione partnered with him and Blaise in potions two days later. She and Blaise prepped the ingredients for their Pepper-Up potion while Draco worked on stirring the ingredients. "I even asked father for what he had built his case on, so I could come up with a rebuttal for every argument he would have tried to make."

"You did?" Hermione looked up at Draco to see him nodding. "That's brilliant, really." Hermione was caught off guard by how thorough he had tried to be and Draco had been surprised that she complimented him. "I've already asked Lucius to drop the case before we came back from Christmas holiday, but he refused, of course." Hermione was chopping up the thyme for the potion a bit to quickly from her discontent and Draco nearly grabbed the knife from her.

"Watch the sizing on the Dandelion. It'll mess with the effectiveness of the potion."

Hermione looked up at him, completely stopping what she was doing as she thought of why she never heard that before. She looked at her potions textbook, wondering if she missed anything about the Dandelion's properties. "It doesn't say that anywhere." Hermione racked her brain, thinking about the different potions she learned about over the years, then thinking about the individual plants before finally remembering that Dandelions wasn't just a filler ingredient like she initially thought. "I knew that."

"Did you?" Blaise teased and Hermione's playfully turned the knife towards him.

"Watch it, Zabini."

"It's Blaise to you, Witch." Blaise said as he passed Draco the ground Cayenne Pepper he had been crushing for the past ten minutes.

"Sure." She said as she took the time to carefully portion out the flower, allowing herself to grow somber with the realization of the appeal. "There's nothing we can do about Buckbeak." It was said in a tone that sounded as if she was convincing herself along with Draco that they did their best.

Draco set his jaw, staring at the pewter cauldron so intensely that the areas around his center of vision had turned gray. He hated failing, but felt he should have known that going against his father had always been a losing battle. He gripped the table tighter as he thought this, and Hermione bumped his tense arm with her elbow, and raised her eyebrows. The gesture was a silent question asking if he was OK and he gave a terse nod. Looking back now, though, he still would have tried to stand up to his father if given a second chance. Even if Lucius was completely unaware who was creating Hagrid's appeals, it had helped him to be comfortable with the fact that the two Malfoys were not always bound to see eye to eye, and that it may cause issues if Draco decided to voice his own view against Lucius in the future.

Hermione looked over her shoulder to Harry and Ron, who got stuck with Pansy, and they seemed to still be arguing on who was going to do what for the potion. She smiled, slightly amused, before turning her attention back to her ingredients. Draco watched the one sided exchange as he stirred, grateful that his first time rebelling against Lucius was with her, as would have never done it alone otherwise.

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-  
Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. Everyone was terrified of their exams and always came out of the classrooms worrying how their nerves had affected their performance. Hermione was as much of a wreck as the fifth and the seventh years who were taking much more serious tests and she seemed to irritate everyone else around her. She had the habit of recounting the exam and asking whomever was around her what they did for the questions she was anxious about. It was a nervous habit Hermione she unknowingly shared with Draco.

"My rabbit looked more like a hare. Don't you think it looked more like a hare, Theo?" Draco said after they had left their transfiguration class.

Theo groaned. "Draco, stop. They're the same animal."

"They're not!"

"My rabbit didn't even have fur and was still metal from the cup it was supposed to be transfigured from! I'm sure you did better than almost anyone else in the classroom!" Blaise exclaimed, his nerves breaking his usually suave demeanor. The Italian stormed off leaving Theo and Draco to walk together to their next exam.

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The days seemed to crawl with students cramming in every free moment they had. On their second to last exam Thursday morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco had Defense Against the Dark Arts. The exam they had to take was an obstacle course outside in the sun; the students had to wade across a pond that had Grindylows, then cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, followed up by squishing their way across a marsh as they ignored misleading directions from a Hinkypunk. In the very last part of the exam, they had to climb into a large trunk that had no doubt been magicked to expand once inside so they could battle a new boggart.

Harry received full marks as he climbed out of the trunk grinning. Ron did well until he reached the Hinkypunk, which ended up confusing him into sinking into a waist-high quagmire.

When Draco, who was after Ron, climbed into the trunk after he had navigated the rest of the course perfectly, the boggart didn't appear until a moment later. When it did, it was the portrait of Lucius and Narcissa above the fire place- except Hermione was now a part of the painting.

"Ugh, I can't even stand to look at him." Lucius turned away, looking to where the portrait dropped off. Narcissa shook her head at Draco when he raised his wand, his hand shaking from nerves. He never faced the boggart in class so this was completely new to him. Draco thought of several things the boggart could have manifested to, even entertained his father being the form the boggart would take, but did not imagine _ this _. "What are you doing?" Lucius had turned back to Draco and took a step closer to the front of the portrait. "You're pitiful, you know. Quaking like a damned autumn leaf- do you even know what spell you're trying to cast boy? Get that wand out of my face!"

Draco opened his mouth, but nothing came out as panic seemed to trickle in, the fear drying up his throat. _ What spell am I supposed to cast? _

Portrait Hermione giggled and his wand dipped in the air before him he was shaking so bad. The painting of Lucius scoffed at the sight. "They say mudbloods get their power from stealing a wizard's magic, you know." Draco didn't answer so Hermione continued as she cocked her head to the side. "I'm going to steal what little love your parents have for you, then I'm going to steal your magic." Hermione removed her wand from her dress sleeve and Draco took a step back. "Not because I'll need it, but because I can." Narcissa placed a delicate hand on Hermione's shoulder as she looked down at the girl lovingly. It was too much for Draco to watch, and he took a few steps back causing the boggart to shift again.

This time, the boggart turned into Buckbeak who who had several bald spots from where his feathers had been. Draco thought some of his feathers were darkened, but as the beast got closer, he saw that it was actually matted blood. Draco screamed and turned away, running as fast as he could.

Suddenly there was a burst of light and he was on the ground, with Lupin looking down on him. "Are you all right?" Draco didn't answer and quickly stood, ignoring Lupins hand and the laughter from his other classmates. He didn't miss that Harry and Ron were bent over laughing as Draco walked over to the other Slytherins who already completed the obstacle course.

When Hermione got to the trunk after doing everything else in the course perfectly herself, Lupin stopped her before she climbed in. He leaned in close to her so none of the other students could hear. "You don't have to do this, Dumbledore and I had arranged an alternative for you if you feel like you can't handle the boggart."

Hermione looked up at him, dismay from his offer filling her features. "What?"

Lupin had a look that she recognized as pity before pointing off to the side of the forbidden forest where she saw Professor Sinastra waiting. "If you head over to that professor, there is-" Lupin stopped, hearing the trunk's lid flop closed. Lupin gave a small smile at Harry's friend choosing to complete the original course, but got closer to the trunk in the event her fears proved to be too much for her.

Hermione cast _ lumos _ as soon as her feet hit the ground. She turned around slowly, trying to find the boggart. When she did a complete one-eighty, she jumped back coming face to face with herself.

Hermione lifted her wand at the same time the boggart raised it's gun. Being caught off guard by Lupin made her forget what she wanted to turn the boggart into, but the sight of the firearm made her freeze with the spell on the tip of her tongue.

"You could have saved them, you know." The boggart slowly took a step to circle Hermione, but Hermione followed with her wand, refusing to lower it. "But you _ had _ to leave your wand. What kind of witch are you?"

Hermione's eyes watered as the boggart took another step, it's question ringing in her ears. _ The spell! Cast the spell! But Hermione fell for it's trap. _"I wasn't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts. I had no reason-"

"But you _ must know _ that you would have been pardoned. The Ministry has a clause to protect students using magic in life or death situations. You failed them- and after all they did for you."

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek. _ Ground yourself. _ "Ri-Riddikulus." Hermione nearly lowered her wand, but the boggart did not disappear and simply changed it's form.

The next figure was Dr. Augsen holding the gun in her face. "You haven't been working on clearing your mind. You're going to live the rest of your life as a muggle-"

Hermione started to shake. "Riddikulus."

The boggart morphed into Harry, his voice sad and his eyes wide. "Would you let me die, too?"

"Riddikulus." Hermione felt her own voice tremble and her free hand tightened into a fist, trying to ground her. _ It's just a boggart, it's not real. _

Ron's blue eyes were staring back at her now instead of Harry's green ones on the other side of the revolver. "You can barely function on your own, how do you expect to protect anyone else?"

"Riddikulus."

Draco ran his free hand through his lightly curled hair. "You aren't serious, mudblood." The gun bounced in her vision as he started to laugh.

Hermione's resolve seemed to awaken at the slur. She learned to understand why the word was so dirty after her almost suicide attempt on Astronomy tower and she learned to hate it. She put both of her hands on her wand.

_ Think of what you want it to turn into and focus your intent as you speak the spell. _ "Riddik-"before the spell could be finished, her wand's light went out. She couldn't see the boggart and she had no clue where it was until it spoke again,. This time, directly behind her.

The voice seemed to tickle the back of her mind in an area that seemed almost buried. She knew the voice, but it almost hurt trying to pinpoint who it was. "Your time is up, Crumpet." The voice was silky in the worst ways and the breath that landed on the back of her neck felt like an intimate violation.

She felt something grab the front of her shirt and pull her out of the trunk, but she sank into the grass as the fresh hair hit her lungs. Hermione didn't speak for a long moment and Professor Lupin crouched beside her, worry etched dee into his face. She felt angry again and stood even when her legs shook. "I told you at the beginning of the year boggarts were dangerous. That creature had a gun in my face." Hermione was breathing hard and Lupin slowly stood, his eyes never leaving his face, even when it changed from worry to a stern look. "Some of us have real fears, you know. Not jack-in-the-boxes or other professors." Hermione kept her voice low so the other students, specifically Parvati and Neville as she spoke about their fears, could not hear her.

"You knew this and you still chose to go into the trunk." He retorted, "I know you're trying to be brave, but you need to remember to be smart." Hermione was taken aback by his response as she thought he always tried to coddle her, but his words revealed he could be as brash as Snape when he wanted to be. "Be careful what you try to prove to yourself, Hermione. If you had met this boggart in your home, without me- or someone else for that matter- watching over you and you happened to fear death over anything else, do you think the boggart would have hesitated to pull the trigger?"

Hermione's eyes widened and in an instant, Harry and Ron were by her side. Harry put an arm around her shoulders steering her off to where the rest of the students sat, while Ron glared at Lupin. "C'mon, 'Mione."

After they were a safe enough distance away for them to not be overheard, Ron started to question her. "What did he say? You had already looked pale when he pulled you out, but whatever he said made you go completely white."

Hermione glanced at Ron then down at her hands. She was still gripping her wand as if it was a life line and she closed her eyes. Professor Lupin's words ran through her head again as images of the boggart flashed behind her closed eyelids. _ I need to do better. I need to be stronger, if not for myself, for the ones that are alive that I need to protect. _ "Nothing. It was a critique on my encounter with the boggart." Hermione looked at the Defense Against their Dark Arts teacher as he watched the next student run through the obstacle course.

Harry and Ron, deciding not to push Hermione, started their own conversation. She allowed them to distract each other as she let her eyes drift over to Draco, who was camping with a group of Slytherin's laughing at their classmates attempts to get through the course. As if feeling her gaze, he looked back at her and raised his blonde eyebrows- asking the same question she had silently last week in potions. She gave a quick thumbs up and he turned back to Millicent and Pansy, just in time to watch Crabbe also get confused by the Hinkypunk.

After a while, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed back to the castle where they almost literally ran into a rushing Cornelius Fudge in the entrance hall.

"Hello there, Harry! Hermione." He nodded at Hermione when greeting her, and completely ignored Ron. "Just finished an exam, I expect?" He had turned his full attention to Harry, but Hermione was the one who answered.

"Yes, sir." Hermione faintly felt the hair raise on the back of her neck as if the boggart was breathing on her neck again.

Fudge continued to stare down at Harry, waiting for a reply. Harry, taking a moment to catch on, gave an awkward reply so Fudge would continue. "Er, Yes."

The minister nodded once. "It's a lovely day," Fudge looked above the three of them and down the hall before looking back at Harry. "What a shame I'm here on an unpleasant mission, Harry. The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures required a witness to the execution of the mad Hippogriff. I was coming to check on the Black situation anyway so I was asked to step in."

"Does that mean the appeal's already happened?" Hermione interrupted. She would have taken a step forward but her head started to ache as if she was going to have another flashback.

Fudge gave Hermione a once over and set his lips into a slight frown. "No, it's scheduled for this afternoon."

"Then you might not have to witness an execution at all!" Ron said indignantly, "The hippogriff might get off!"

Before Fudge could reply to Ron, two wizards joined them. One was Lucius Malfoy, who raised an eyebrow seeing Hermione's eyebrow and another wizard who Hermione would have imagined Virginia Woolf would have described him as 'Tall and Strapping'. The man had a thin mustache and black hair that looked as tousled as Harry's. He seemed to almost be absentmindedly running his thumb along the axe in his belt, as if he was itching to use it. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione stepped on his foot, never taking her eyes off of the older Malfoy. _ This is your fault, Lucius. _

The executioner looked down at his watch before looking back up at Fudge. "It's nearly two o'clock Minister. Should we be heading over now?"

"No. No, I still have to meet with Dumbledore... talk over details..." Fudge removed his hat and ran his palm over his sweaty head before putting the green hat back on.

"We'll be heading to lunch then." Hermione grabbed the sleeves of Harry and Ron's robes, dragging them away but not before she heard Fudge make a comment to Lucius about her.

"You should have Narcissa teach her that a lady is to speak when spoken to." Hermione walked faster, afraid she would give in to her temptation of telling the Minister _ and _ Lucius about what she thought of both of them- which would not have gone well if she did have a flashback in front of them.

When they could no longer see the three men, Ron pulled his sleeve free of her grasp. "Why'd you stop me? They've got the ax ready- This isn't justice!"

"Your dad works for the Ministry, you can't go saying what ever you like to his boss!" Hermione knew Ron was upset, and tried not to let her own stress or anger dictate her actions. "As long as Hagrid keeps his head this time, and argues his case properly, they won't execute Buckbeak."

Hermione wasn't sure if she convinced either of them as she wasn't convinced herself that was true. It was more than obvious the Ministry's mind was made up and Buckbeak was going to die.

—————————————

_ Lost appeal. They're going to execute at Sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it. _

_-Hagrid _

"We've got to go," Harry said at once, Hermione opened her mouth to ask what for, but he spoke before her, knowing she would argue. "He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner! He loves Buckbeak!"

Hermione thought about the days where Hagrid let her find solace in his hut when she had no where else to go. He tried to help her in the best ways he could, even when he didn't know how. She stood up from where she was sitting next to Ron and nodded.

"Sunset, though." Ron reminded. "We'd never be allowed, especially you, Harry. If only we still had the invisibility cloak..."

Hermione's eyebrows raised. "You _ lost _ it, again? Where is it?"

Harry's eyebrows came together. "You were there when I lost it the first time so it's not all my fault." He referred to the time they had smuggled Hagrid's Dragon First Year to be looked after Ron's older brother, Charlie. "I left it in the passageway leading to Honeydukes. When I was climbing out of the one-eyed witch statue, Snape caught me. Ron was able to cover for me, but Lupin got involved and took the Marauder's map..." Harry went into detail on how after Crabbe ran to Snape after seeing Harry in Hogsmeade, he had to race back to Hogwarts to pretend he had never left. Harry had climbed out of the statue, but the cloak fell out of his pocket and Snape had appeared right has the passageway closed. He was taken to the Potion Master's office who found the Marauder's map, but could not find how it worked as Harry had made sure the map was blank. However, the Marauder's decided to insult Snape when he tried to have the map appear for him and whatever the Marauders said, caused Snape to call Lupin who ended up confiscating the map from Harry. "... if Snape sees me anywhere near there again, I'm in serious trouble," He finished.

Hermione breathed deeply when Harry was done, closing her eyes, and started counting back from ten. When she was done she opened her eyes and put her hands in the air. "I'm not mad."

"You're mad." Ron said immediately, glancing at Harry.

"I'm not." She insisted. "How do you open the one-eyed witch again?"

Harry was slightly confused by the question. "You- you tap it and say, _ 'Dissendium'. _ But-"

Hermione didn't wait for the rest of what he was going to say. She pushed open the Fat Lady portrait and strode down the hallways and stairs, determined to get the cloak so they could provide any comfort they could to Hagrid.


	23. Year Three: Part IX (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This COVID-19 thing is a whole mess. I hope you guys are all staying safe!

"Crookshanks!" Hermione hissed at her cat who currently had it's paw poised on one of the Whomping Willow's roots, causing the usually violent tree to pause as if it had never moved an inch in it's life. The half-kneazle flicked it's bushy tail, as if he was personally inviting them to go into the passageway of the tree. "How did you know how to-"

"He's friends with that dog." Harry replied grimly, while walking towards the tree. "I've seen them together."

"Harry!" Panic caused Hermione to grab Harry's forearm to stop him from following the dog that had just dragged Ron into the Whomping Willow. She was already trembling from everything that had happened within a span of a few minutes of leaving Hagrid's and she had not even comprehended that the tender skin on her chest was starting to bloom two bruises where the dog had knocked her to the ground by catapulting off of her chest. A move that stopped her from drawing her wand to disable the canine when she saw it chasing after Ron. "We need to get a teacher, we can't-"

"There's no time! That dog was massive, it could eat him!" Harry pulled back and Hermione took in a strangled breath as her eyes widened in fear. _ This is just like last summer. Ron is in trouble, I can't do this. _ Logic said that the only sounds outside were the sounds of her and Harry talking, but all she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. Her breathing became shallow and she felt cold as she clutched her wand tightly to her chest.

It dawned on Harry what was happening to Hermione and knew he would have to go into the tree alone. He wouldn't risk pressuring Hermione to go inside of the tree. "Look, go get help. I'll go after Ron and-"

"You can't, Harry! Don't-"

"I have to, it's just a dog anyway." Harry swallowed his own fear, putting on a brave face for Hermione, and decided to use her fear and her panic in his favor. He hated manipulating people, but he couldn't waste anymore time. "Hermione, I need you to help me." She looked up at him and he swallowed. "I need you to help me- I know you want to help Ron too so go and get a professor while I go in after him. We'll be covering all of our bases that way."

Hermione looked up at him through blurry vision. She wiped the tears away before they could completely form and she gave a vigorous nod. "Yeah."_ Two birds, one stone. _ "Ok." _ Two birds, one stone. _ She slowly turned around as she took steps towards the castle. _ I'll go, find any one I can, and by the time I'm done, Harry may have even gotten Ron out. Two birds, one stone. _ Hermione quickened her pace into a sprint. She tried to remember whose office was closest to this side of the castle. _ Hagrid is in no state to react rationally, McGonagall is too many floors up and Snape is too far down- not to mention the Slytherins in the dungeons... _ Her concentration did not waver until her foot hit stone again.

_ Would you let me die, too? _ The boggart Harry's voice asked her, loud and clear as if she was back in the trunk again. She stopped, and hiccuped before slowly turned around. _ What am I doing? Why am I running away? _ Hermione started to jog back to the Whomping Willow. _ Jumping at me when I pulled out my wand? What dog does that? _ Hermione thought as her jog turned into a sprint that she pushed harder than the sprint to the castle. Crookshanks was no longer holding down the root of the Whomping Willow, but her pace did not slow, as a matter of fact, it quickened.

Looking up at the tree branches, she watched the Whomping Willow wind up for a clean sweep and threw herself forward when the branches came down. She yelped when some of the smaller branches scraped her legs, causing her to trip and fall. For once, her body reacted before her mind did, forcing her to get up and do a successful baseball slide into the hole Harry and Ron had disappeared into. Her chest heaved as her mind caught up to her, realizing that if she had not moved as fast as she did a second time, she would have been dead. _ Am I not allowed to live? _ She gave a soft whimper from pure distress so she grabbed her head, forcing herself to close her eyes and calm down. _ I am here. I need to focus. Freaking out will help no one. Freezing in place helps no one. Keep your wits and push forward. _

Hermione held her breath until she couldn't any longer and welcomed the air that her body gulped down, but forced herself to control her breathing. One of Hermione's favorite subjects when she was going to primary school was Science so she started to repeat facts she knew to herself, knowing the familiarity of it may calm her down; _ The sun is in the center of the universe. The Earth spins on an axis of Twenty-Three degrees. _ Hermione looked down the tunnel in the tree and almost immediately there was a drop off to an earthy slope they could have slid down. Hermione didn't miss the faint trail of blood- Ron's blood- that had not yet been soaked into the dirt. _ My organs make up a system. My systems make up my body. My body is still working. I am alive, I am here and I need to help Ron. _ Hermione took another deep breath before continuing as the images leading up to this moment flashed through her mine: Finding Scabbers at Hagrid's, trying to get back to the castle underneath the invisibility cloak with a fighting Scabbers, Crookshanks attacking Ron to get to Scabbers, running around the castle to the side where the Whomping Willow is-

Hermione heard a rustling sound next to her and froze. She held her wand up in the direction she heard it, but cast _ lumos _ before determining if she should send a blind hex or not. The light revealed it was just a family of rats- none of them being Scabbers. Hermione took a deep breath, willing her nerves to calm and stop the last of her shaking. _ This is not Paris, there is no murderer here. _ She turned her ring inward so she could dig the spikes into her palm. _ I need to focus and not act before thinking. _ When Hermione felt stable enough, she continued down the tunnel as fast as she could. It was slightly uncomfortable as the tunnel dipped into a low ceiling, but she pressed forward even when her calves and quads burned. The boggart who took the form as Harry flashed again in her mind, it's question giving her more courage to get Ron out of the tunnel herself. _ I wouldn't let Harry or Ron die. _

Soon enough, the tunnel's ceiling started to rise. Hermione had intruding thoughts about what the enormous dog might have been doing to Ron, and hoped that Harry wasn't right when claiming the dog was big enough to eat her red headed friend. Ron was hurt, that she knew; when she rolled on to her side to get up from being knocked down by the shaggy canine, she saw that Ron had hooked his leg on to the frame of the Whomping Willow to stop from being pulled in further, and then there was a sickening sound of a bone breaking before he was completely pulled in. Hermione could see light coming through a door frame and she quickened her pace.

"_ Nox _." The light of her wand went out and she stepped into the dimply lit room. She pressed the ring deeper into her skin to stop the anxiety that bubbled in the back of her throat. _ In through the nose, and out through the mouth. _ Stepping into the room, she could see that the room was dusty, with wallpaper peeling from the walls and stains all over the floor- including Ron's fresh blood. Hermione held the back of her free hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. _ Freaking out will help no one. You either turn back or get to them. _ Her own harsh voice in her head said. She opened her eyes, building her determination back up. Turning back wasn't a real option anymore, the Whomping Willow would kill her before she could think of a way to dodge its attack. There was a door on the other wide of the room leading to a dark hallway and she made her way towards it, making herself look at the blood as she walked.

Forcing herself to fully acknowledge the evidence of what was happening had calmed her in the oddest way, it was like fighting a whirlpool before realizing that the best thing to do was to allow yourself to get pulled into the bottom to swim away from it, _ then _ back up to the water's surface. _ You may not find them in the best of shape. You already know Ron is hurt. Do not let your emotions get the better of you this time- no matter what happens. _ She took steady steps forward- walking on her tip toes. She took in as much as she could of the room and a thought came to her- _ Harry said that the Whomping Willow had a trail that looked like it lead into Hogsmeade. This could easily be the inside of the Shrieking Shack. _ Passing a chair that had the cushion completely torn apart, with an arm completely gnawed on, her stomach sank. _ Ghosts couldn't of had done that. _

She was right by the door that led to the hallway door now and she heard a creaking sound overhead that made her jump. Hermione quickly, but still silently made their way down the hall, remembering full force the danger that Harry and Ron may be in. _ It's been minutes! Where are they? _ She went up the crumbling staircase, barely able to see anything, and the railing was so thick with dust that Hermione's fingers were sticky. When they reached the landing, they saw only one door open on the left. The floorboards creaked so badly on the second floor Hermione almost wanted to give up on her attempt to tip toe, but then she heard voices- one of them she didn't recognize.

"Did you hear me?" Hermione knew this voice as Ron. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill me too!"

_ Kill? _ Hermione could have sworn that her blood stopped pumping as it froze with the rest of her body. _ Think, think, don't panic now! _ Her eyes searched the floor as if it held all of the answers and her breathing became more shallow. _ No! Control yourself. _

"There'll only be one murder here tonight." Replied the deep, hoarse voice that suggested it had been either underused or overused. _ Ron is defending Harry, who would want to kill- _ Hermione nearly cursed but instead she directed all of her intent into a non-verbal _ silencio _ over the floor in front of her that lead to the only closed door with a light on. Hermione stopped right in front of it and put her hand lightly on the knob, careful not to even jingle it.

She held her wand up, knowing that once the door flew open, she had to cast her hex on Sirius Black immediately or _ she _ would be dead. On her last heavy breath though, there was scratching and meowing at the door.

"Is someone there, Kneazle?" The hoarse voice asked Crookshanks. An affirmative mew followed. _ Bloody traitor. _

_ Should I burst in or let him come to me? _ Hermione stepped back into the dark shadows waiting to hear steps near the door. She crouched, anticipating Black would not expect an attack from below, and hoped it would buy her an extra second or two to cast her own spell.

What she did not expect, was a _ bombarda _ to be cast and blow the door off it's hinges and into the hallway. She let out a scream as she covered her ears and turned away. _ This is not Paris, this is not Paris, this isnotParisthisisno- _ Hermione heard her name being called out by Ron and foot steps start towards the hallway followed by the sound of a body falling to the floor.

The heavy dud gave her a fresh round of adrenaline and she ran to the door, wand at the ready to see Harry had jumped over the king-sized bed and on to Black. Harry had grabbed Black's wrist that was holding Ron and Harry's wand in one hand and he punched Black with his other hand. Sparks flew out of the wand that Back was holding, causing Hermione to jump back to avoid them before she could get close enough to help Harry. Ron started yelling, asking if she was ok. He was obviously no help with one foot broken and she knew her friend well enough it added to his distress. Hermione yelped as another spark flew out of a wand again, this time missing Harry's face and her legs by inches. Harry was punching Black repeatedly, but the filthy man rolled them over once more, hissing something Hermione couldn't hear as he gained the upper hand and started to choke Harry.

Hermione, seeing her chance to move in as Black was distracted, swung her leg forward, toes pointed down to allow her shin to slam into his ribs. He let go of Harry with a grunt of pain and Ron came soaring through the air, using his full body weight to pin Black down, allowing Harry and Ron's wands to clatter to the floor next to them. Hermione joined Ron as Harry spotted his wand and tried to pick it up, but Crookshanks joined the fray by jumping on to Harry's arm, claws out. "NO YOU DON'T!" Roared Harry as he disengaged Crookshanks from his arm. The cat fell to the ground on all fours before he aimed a kick at it that was dodged, but even if Hermione didn't just get elbowed by Black while trying to assist an injured Ron in keeping the felon down, she wouldn't of had objected. The cat seemed to have betrayed them and she grew even more angry she allowed it to get between her and her best friends earlier in the year.

"Get out of the way!" Hermione looked up at Harry who had retrieved his wand from the ground. She did not need to be told twice and helped Ron up so they could stand by the door way after she retrieved Ron's wand. Ron immediately moved to lay on the four-poster bed behind her and sighed as the weight came off of his broken leg. She put a hand to her lip and when she pulled away, she saw she was bleeding. Hermione gave a mirthless laugh. _ This was pure luck. What were the chances we would subdue _ the _ Sirius Black. _ The adrenaline and fear did not stop pumping through her veins though as she looked down on Black who had pressed himself against the wall that had peeling yellow wallpaper.

Black had matted black hair and his gaunt features made Lupin's look as full as Crabbe's chubby face. His eyes were sunken into his sockets and if he were a skeleton, there would be no difference in how hollow his cheeks were. His lips were cracked from dehydration, and Hermione imagined he must have been just as skinny through out the rest of his body. Despite the obvious malnutrition and the state his mind should have been living with dementors, Sirius Black's eyes looked sane to her. Atleast for the most part.

"He was the dog. He's an animagus." Ron stated, rubbing the thigh of his broken leg.

Hermione looked between Black, Ron, then Black again. Everything seemed to fall into place like an arithmancy problem she spent all day with Draco trying to crack. "That's how you broke out of Azkaban, isn't it?" _ No dog would ever attack her the way she had if she pulled out her wand- it was him! _

"You broke out of Azkaban as a dog, didn't you? The dementor's couldn't sense you could they?"

Black tore his eyes from Harry and Harry's wand so he could eye Hermione curiously before answering. He nodded once, "Smart, girl."

"Top of our class." Harry cut in dryly, and the attention of everyone in the room fell back on Harry's wand being pointed at Black's face. "You didn't get the chance to warn a professor, did you?"

Hermione felt shame settle into her. "No. I-" Harry's eyes fell on her without him diverting his head from Black's direction. "I changed my mind."

"Your father would have done the same for me, Harry. Brave of both of you, not to run for a teacher." Hermione watched Harry's grip on his wand tighten and his ears go as red as Ron's hair.

"YOU KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared. Even though his voice shook, his wand stayed steady.

"I won't deny it," Black said quietly. "But if you knew the whole story-"

"The whole story?" Hermione jumped in, taking a few steps closer to Harry's side. "What story do you have that justifies killing someones parents?" Hermione's eyes watered, but for the first time in months, it wasn't due to depression or a panic attack. It was from anger. "Do you even know what pain you've caused? Not just to your _ god-son _, but to the families of the thirteen people you killed?" Hermione didn't need to look down at her hand to see her knuckles were white around her wand. She barely felt the ring prick her palm causing her to bleed, she was so infuriated.

Harry continued what Hermione started. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to me," Black said, shaking his head. There was a sense of urgency in his voice that made Hermione's lips press together and her hands smoke. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her, and her magic down. _ You're going to live the rest of your life as a muggle. _ Her eyes snapped open when she was in control again. I will not. 

"No, I don't. But I do have to avenge them." Harry's free hand was balled to tightly it shook. Hermione placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, but never took her eyes off of Black.

"Harry," She said after her friend did not say another word for a couple of minutes. He didn't answer her or look at her. "Harry." She said again, this time tearing her eyes away from Black to look at Harry's profile. Harry once again did not acknowledge her and she counted another sixty seconds before saying anything again. "Harry, I-"

"_ What _, Hermione?" He finally said looking at her, fire burning in his eyes at the rage and hate he felt for Sirius Black.

She looked down at Black, knowing that same fire was burning inside of her, but not just in her eyes. It burned throughout her entire frame. "If you don't want to, I can do it for you." She knew she was wanting to live vicariously though Harry's vengeance as her parent's murderer had already been killed. She knew that it wasn't _ right _, but she was blind with rage. Murderers had been high on her list of the worst things in the world, but now she personally counted it as number one on her list. _ Why would you want to become the thing you hate? _ Her thought made her blink, but she imagined putting up mental walls to close off her natural do-good side temporarily off. She wanted to be angry. Hermione _ wanted _ justice.

Black's onyx eyes widened as he looked between Hermione and Harry. "Please-" She raised an eyebrow at him just as Crookshanks jumped on his chest. "Get off," Black whispered trying to push Crookshanks off of him, but the cat had dug it's nails into his shirt. Hermione swallowed the whimper her body wanted to give as she watched her cat protect someone else. She loved Crookshanks, but of course that didn't help make the betrayal she felt stab through her. She knew Harry was considering killing Crookshanks, and she fought her urges to help Black heave the cat out of the way. Crookshanks had put their lives in danger multiple times in one night. _ Why should I intervene when Buckbeak was innocent, but still died? _ Hermione ran her free, but bloody hand over her hair. _ What am I going to tell Draco? _

No one moved for minutes and Harry never replied to Hermione. Muffled footsteps could be heard from downstairs and Ron- who had been holding his breath, torn on if he should stop his best friends from murdering the Azkaban escapee- yelled without a second thought. "WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE- SIRIUS BLACK IS HERE- QUICK!"

Black made a startled sound and Crookshanks jumped off, but Harry did not move. Hermione glanced between Harry and Black. She wasn't going to push Harry to take a life, but if he was going to do it, now was the time to do it.

The footsteps were thundering up the stairs, but still, Harry had not uttered a single syllable. She wondered then if Harry knew of any lethal, offensive spells and considered offering a suggestion when Lupin appeared in the doorway, his face taking in the scene of Ron on the bed, then Black on the floor with Harry and Ron standing before him.

"Thank good-"

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted, disarming Harry and Hermione who had not just her wand, but Ron's still.

Hermione's blood ran cold for a second time and she grabbed Harry, putting him behind her. Usually she wouldn't of had been able to move him, but in his shock he didn't even think about her defending him. She felt her best friend sigh behind her, "I didn't kill him." It was said under his breath so only she could hear and she half turned to look back at Harry while still facing the door. Harry looked at Hermione's face and was perplexed by her suddenly concerned look.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Lupin asked, not acknowledging the students in the room.

"Harry, I don't think he's here to help us..." Hermione whispered. She had been wary of Lupin all year, especially after finding out he was a werewolf and confirming her concerns with Draco. Hearing that Lupin was using Black's first name only made her fear double as her brain seemed to try and make a connection that she just wasn't getting. Hermione felt Harry look down at Black, but she stayed staring at Lupin. _ Why... Why do you want to kill Harry, too? _ Hermione's eyebrow furrowed as her throat grew tight, but she wouldn't allow herself to break down if this was her last hour. She decided that if she were to die, she would die fighting giving in to her wrath and instead of her fear.

Hermione only looked away from Lupin when Black pointed at Ron. Lupin took a few steps towards Ron who quickly slid himself to the opposite side of the bed. Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her back to join Ron so the students had the bed between them and the two men. "Professor," Ron said as he gingerly stood on his good leg. "What's going on?"

Lupin didn't answer as he lowered his wand, walked to Black's side, holding out a hand to help the fallen man to is feet. Black grabbed it hesitantly, and Lupin pulled the starved man up into a bear hug as if they were brothers who were separated for years. Brothers. "OH!" Hermione exclaimed, remembering what Lucius had said the last time she was in the infirmary:

_"I'm sorry, Lupin?" Lucius was the one to interrupt this time, his amused twinkle gone. "As in Remus Lupin? Former best friend of-"_

_"The very same." Dumbledore turned to face Lucius, and Hermione squirmed at his serious demeanor. _

_ Lucius scoffed and looked at Narcissa, choosing not to address Dumbledore. "And we wonder why break-ins keep happening, -"_

"II don't believe it!" Hermione screamed, realizing that Sirius was the best friend Lucius was talking about and why Lucius looked at Narcissa when he spoke again as he was referring to her cousin.

Lupin let go of Black and turned to see Hermione pointing a smoking finger at Lupin who had his eyes wide at the sight of Hermione's hand. "You- you-"

"Hermione," Lupin used the same tone of voice he had earlier in the day after she had gotten out of the trunk.

"-You and him!"

"Hermione, calm down-"

"I've been covering up for you-" She shrieked and her hands erupted into small flames.

"Hermione, listen to me, please control yourself!" Lupin shouted back. He had heard from Professor Trewlawny about the desk that Hermione had burnt and knew that unconducted magic could be as unstable as _ Fiendfyre _ if the wizard was not in control.

Harry, finally past his shock of Lupin being friends with Sirius Black, jumped in. "I trusted you!" Harry seemed to be on the verge of going ballistic himself as his voice wavered uncontrollably. "And all this time, you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," Lupin said, holding his hands out as he tried to keep a calm tone. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now- Let me explain-"

"NO!" Hermione screamed and the flames in her hands flickered as if ready to jump. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too- _ he's a werewolf! _" All eyes were on Lupin who looked pale during the ringing silence that followed Hermione's revelation, but he stayed calm. He looked back at Sirius who whispered something to the tired professor.

Lupin kept watch of Hermione's wrists as the flames crept higher on her arms. "Hermione," Lupin's voice held a warning in it. "You need to control your emotions. I know you're upset, but I promise I will explain everything if you-"

Hermione was beyond livid. _ Control, control, control. That's all anyone seems to worry about these days. Dr. Augsen, Lucius, Fudge, Lupin. _"You're trying to kill my best friend and all you can talk about is _ control _?" Hermione looked down at her hands before looking back up at Lupin. An idea had weaseled it's way into her brain and she wondered if it would work. _ But... Control doesn't always have to mean stop. _ Hermione closed her eyes and imagined the feel of how her magic flowed through her wand. She could feel that same energy dancing around her aflamed skin, but it wasn't... _ flowing _ like it would be with her wand. She almost felt disconnected from it. The flames were like children running around a playground and she was a parent trying to get them to stop so they could return home.

It took her longer than she would have liked, but she could feel more connected to the unruly flames- she was able to stop the children from running a muck on the playground and they waited for her command to return home.

Except she didn't give the command. When she opened her eyes, the flames were still there, but they were the royal blue they were when she cast flames from her wand. Hermione was now in full control of a weapon she intended on using to get her and her friends out of here. "I believe it's safe to say that I am in control, Professor."

Lupin gave her a hard look as he hoped she would have canceled out the magic. "I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead." He paused and she saw his adam's apple bob up and down from gulping so hard. "But I won't deny I am a werewolf."

Ron stumbled backwards from the admission and Lupin took a concerned step around the side of the bed as Ron gasped from the pain. Ron's eyes seemed to bulge at Lupin coming closer. "Stay away from me, werewolf!" Lupin went still as Black rubbed his forehead and Hermione caught Harry's eye while Lupin was focused on Ron's behavior. She glanced at the bed, then at the door before looking back at Harry to see if he understood. He looked at her dumbly and she pulled her lips back into a silent snarl, she was so angry. She looked at the bed, giving a subtle nod then at the door with another nod. Harry's eyes went wide with understanding, along with wondering if Hermione could hold off two men with flames she just learned how to control, but Lupin spoke and her eyes went back to her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor before Harry could try motioning back to her.

"How long have you known?" Lupin seemed slightly offended by Ron's behavior and Hermione took a step to the right, away from Ron and Harry. If you want to explain, fine, I needed to think of a distraction anyway.

"Ages. Since Professor Snape's essay." Hermione took another step to the side, further away from the door and closer to Black. She hoped it would have been enough for Harry and Ron to be in Lupin's peripheral vision. Her eyes flicked over to Black who was standing against the wall. _ But what about him? He doesn't have a wand, but Ron won't be able to run away from his animagus form. _

"He'll be delighted." Lupin said coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant." _ Two someones noticed. _ Hermione thought of Draco and her heart ached, causing her flames to dim. _ What if I don't- No. Don't think that. You'll take these two down giving Harry and Ron a head start, then you'll follow. You'll let Dumbledore know he made a mistake and they'll both be taken to Azkaban- or to the dementors. _ The blue flames roared with a new fierceness. "How did you figure it out?"

"I used a lunar chart to track when you were sick and I figured your boggart is a full moon."

Lupin forced a laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

She scoffed and used the movement of her head to glance at Harry and Ron who had been edging closer to the bed. Ron looked like he was getting ready to brace himself for what was about to be an excruciating drag across the bed by Harry. "I'm not. If I'd been a bit more clever, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know." Hermione's head cocked to the side at that. Lupin didn't say it smugly, more matter of fact than anything else. "Atleast the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?! Is he mad?" Ron gasped, apparently unable to withhold any outbursts he had. Harry had just placed a knee on the bed when Ron said this and Hermione wanted to throw her flames at Ron instead.

Black walked to the other side of the bed that was by the door and stared at them both as if to question if they thought the plan would work. "Ronald." Hermione growled, not seeing a point in hiding her displeasure now that they couldn't follow through with her plan, unless she went full offense against a wizard who had _ all _ of their wands.

Lupin continued as if the boys were not caught trying to get away from them. Hermione half listened as her brain tried to come up with a different plan other than just attacking the two men. "Some of the staff thought so, Dumbledore had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy-"

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled, no longer keeping quiet now that they had no plan to escape. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM THE WHOLE TIME!" He pointed at Black who decided to sit on the edge of the bed, Crookshanks jumping into his lap as he put his head into a shaky palm. _ He's weak. Maybe they could over power him and-_

"I have not been helping, Sirius!" Lupin looked completely exasperated being accused of something that none of the students found to be true. "If you give me a chance, I'll explain. Look-" He separated Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's wands and took two steps forward to walk over to Harry and Ron to hand the wands back to them, but Hermione put herself in front of him, arms partially outstretched in a hook, ready to burn him if he came closer. Lupin looked slightly taken aback as if he did not find her capable of hurting a teacher. "Would you really burn me, Hermione?'

"If the boggart thinks I'm not afraid of dying, what makes you think I'm not afraid of killing?" It was the first thought that came to her mind, but it surprised her that it wasn't untrue when it left her lips.

Lupin studied her for a minute, unsure of what to think about what she said. "You're the girl from the paper aren't you? The muggleborn who lost her parents over the summer?" Black said, looking up at her through his shaking fingers. He pulled out a page of the daily prophet, and she caught a glimpse of the Weasley family's picture after they won the prize drawing the Ministry had before he flipped it over to reveal the headline on the back: _ Former Death Eater adopts Muggleborn. _ She sniffed glancing at a primary school picture of her _ The Daily Prophet _ somehow dug up. Her flames flickered, and she did not answer, refusing to take her eyes off of Professor Lupin for more than a fraction of a second with him being so close in proximity. "You are, then. I wouldn't doubt her, Remus. She offered Harry to kill me if he couldn't."

"_ Wouldn't. _" She corrected. "You hurt my best friend and want to kill my other best friend. I don't have a dementor at my disposal or else I would hand you over to them." She looked at Black then and she saw a shiver run though his body at the mention of the repugnant creature. _ Good. _

"Enough." Lupin took a step back, the three wand handles facing her. "I just want to give these back to the three of you."

"Then toss Harry and Ron's wands to them and hand me mine." She wasn't going to risk taking her eyes off of him in the event he wanted to catch her off guard.

Lupin took a deep breath before stepping back and tossing the boys their wands. He looked at Hermione before extending her wand out to her. "You may end up damaging your wand if you don't put the fire out." Hermione looked at his face and then her wand a few times. She hated the idea of being defenseless in the event he did not return her wand after letting her flames die out. She was in control of it now, but she doubted she could conjure them on her own and be able to control them immediately. However, when she glanced back at Harry to see him nod while he and Ron both had their wands trained on Lupin in the event they needed to hex him, she gave in. She watched the flames dwindle from being the size of melons, to the size of lemons, then a mere candle flame before disappearing entirely. As soon as the flames disappeared though, she felt as if she had been hit by a train called exhaustion.

Lupin held out her wand and as soon as she grabbed it, she stumbled back to the side of the bed that Harry and Ron were currently at and sat on the edge. When she sunk into the mattress, she realized that it wasn't a regular type of exhaustion. Her body felt all right, and her mind was still clear. It was something else much deeper and she started to panic, wondering if she had done permanent damage to her ability to use magic.

"There," Lupin stuck his wand back into his belt. "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

_ Only one way to find out. _ Hermione focused all of her intent on Lupin's wand before pointing her own at him. "_ Expelliarmus _!" The wand flew to her, albeit at a slow speed and after a moment's hesitation. She had major concerns that settled within her stomach making it ache, but she was content at the moment she could still use magic. "_ Now _ you're unarmed, Professor."

Black made a sound that sounded like a snort and Lupin glared at Hermione before starting his long winded explanation; He informed he had using the Maurader's map to see if Harry was going to Hagrid's hut to see Buckbeak's execution, he knew how to use the map and Lupin admitted that he helped create it with Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. This new information on his father had encapsulated Harry's full attention as Lupin explained how close the four Marauders were. Lupin clarified that he had not seen Black on the grounds through the map until today, after he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione leave Hagrid's hut when Black dragged two people into the Whomping Willow. Ron argued that he was the only one Black dragged in, but Lupin insisted that Scabbers (who had been unusually silent with Crookshanks around) was also an animagus. Lupin seeing that Harry, Ron, and Hermione remained unconvinced, went into explaining how the Marauders became friends and how three of them became unregistered animagi for Lupin's sake and Peter Pettigrew had taken the form of a rat. At this, Harry and Ron believed Lupin and Black were both mad.

"Oh, come off it," Ron said. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on _ Scabbers _? I mean..." Ron looked over at Harry and Hermione for support. None of which jumped in as Harry was just as flabbergasted as Ron was and Hermione was genuinely considering all the information that was just dropped on them. "Okay, say that Pettigrew could turn into a rat- there are millions of rats- how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban."

Hermione's ears perked up and she glanced over at Black, sitting on the opposite side of the bed that she was on. Black brandished the newspaper clipping that had Hermione's picture on it and pointed to the rat with the Weasley's smiling faces on it, pointing out how the rat in the picture had a finger missing. _ Of course, _ Hermione thought. _ The biggest piece they found of Pettigrew was a finger. _ As if to confirm the story for her, Black explained it was in fact Pettigrew who killed the thirteen people on the street. Pettigrew had screamed so bystanders would take witness before cutting off his own finger and transforming into a rat to speed into a nearby sewer. Harry had grown alarmed at this point and started to scream that Black was just trying to kill off Pettigrew like Black had killed his parents.

Black's voice was full of emotion at this point as he croaked out what he felt like was the biggest betrayal he ever made. "I as good as killed them. I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... The night they died, I arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. There was no sign of a struggle and it didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents house straightaway, Harry." Black looked at Harry with over-bright eyes, "And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... What I've done..." His voice broke and he turned away, his eyes staring into his lap.

Hermione stared at him, she felt a flurry of emotions herself, but the ones that stuck with her the most was the fact she almost offered to kill an innocent man. _ This isn't justice! _ She could hear Ron screaming in her head. _ I should've heard his side of the story... This wasn't how I was raised. _

"Ron," Hermione looked up at her friend, the guilt she felt thick in every syllable she got out. "I think we should give him the rat." There was a squeak from Ron's pocket and Ron put a hand in it to stop Scabbers from running. Ron looked like he would argue with her but thought better of it.

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Lupin, using both hands now to pull a writhing Scabbers out of his pocket.

"Force him to show himself," Lupin said. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron once again thought about it as he looked down at Scabbers. Hermione handed Lupin his wand as everyone waited with baited breath and Hermione was just about to point out why they should believe Black and Lupin when he handed the rat over to Lupin. Scabbers went wild, thrashing and throwing his body every which way, trying to break free of Lupin's grip. Black got up to stand at the empty space at the end of the bed and Lupin handed the rat to Black who held the rat in place, allowing Lupin to aim his wand at it.

The spell was non-verbal and Hermione watched with rapt attention as the blue-white light was absorbed into the rat's body. The rat was suspended in the air and Black stood by the door just in case the rat had the chance to run again when the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash and then it happened.

The patchy, gray-green rat started to morph. It was a sight that made Hermione think of a bamboo tree growing, as they were known to grow up to an inch a day- but sped up to grow much faster. His head grew nose-first and his limbs seemed to pop into their human sockets as they lengthened. In two minutes there was a man, crouching and wringing his hands where Ron's rat had been.

"Bloody Hell." Ron looked completely pale and Hermione wanted to laugh as her mind seemed to spin like a top. Believing what they said was one thing but to have it confirmed with her own eyes was too much. She stood to stand next to Harry and Ron, gripping her stomach. Crookshanks started to spit and snarl at the man on the floor.

Ron put his arm on Hermione and she was unsure if it was for his sake or hers, but she welcomed the comfort anyway. She looked over Peter Pettigrew taking him in. Lupin's wear was completely worn with patch's but Pettigrew looked three times worse. Hermione was unsure what color his suit was supposed to be and he smelt as if he lived in the sewers he had escaped into. His skin was grubby and he was balding. She thought the man wasn't too much taller than she was and wondered how someone could live in an animal form comfortably for so long.

_ He did it to survive. He betrayed people he was friends with for years to survive. _ Hermione's face looked as contorted as Narcissa's had when she first laid eyes on her at the Granger's funeral. She was completely revolted with the man and everything that he represented to Harry. She could feel her anger roaring in her again and she once again wanted the Potter's official murderer put to rest.

"Well, hello, Peter," said Lupin pleasantly as though rats frequently transformed into old school friends. "Long time, no see."

"S-Sirius... R-Remus... my friends... my old friends..." She hadn't expected Pettigrew's voice to sound squeaky and that combined with the fact he still thought he could find a way out of this made her shake with anger. She kept herself under control though not to spend more of her magic. "Remus, you don't believe him do you...?" Pettigrew asked almost as a hushed whisper as he crept over to Remus, trembling. "He tried to kill me, Remus..."

"Not yet I haven't." Black growled, his eyes completely dark. He made to rush Pettigrew, but Remus stopped him.

"Wait, Sirius! I want to make sure that Harry believes us!" Black stopped fighting Remus as all eyes fell on Harry. Hermione didn't even notice that her friend was pale by her side. Ron moved off of her and on to Harry. "Peter, I think you should tell Harry what actually happened."

"Tell him, you sold out Lily and James. Tell him you framed me, had me sent off to Azkaban when it should have been you! Tell him that you were the one hiding for the past twelve years with his friend's wizarding family because you were too scared to face the other Death Eaters that are free outside of Azkaban." Black looked mad then as he spoke, spitting when emphasizing certain syllables. Pettigrew squeaked at the mention of Death Eaters and Black's face pulled back into a vehemous grin. "Oh, I heard what the other Death Eaters said about you. They think you set their master up- and, oh- what they wanted to do to you, Peter. They think you're dead, and they can't do much from Azkaban... but if the free ones knew you were alive... I can only imagine what dark things they would do to you." Pettigrew whimpered and started to back towards a window that was boarded up. He glanced at it with every step he took and Hermione took notice of it.

BANG! Peter crouched on the ground, covering his ears as Hermione lowered her wand. There was a small scorch mark on the plank of wood that was stuck to the window from where she aimed her spell. "Don't even think about running, you coward." She quickly looked over at Harry and Ron to make sure she didn't scare them, but both were staring at her with wonder- although Ron seemed to have a bit more than wonder in the eye full he was taking in. Seeing that they were fine, she glanced at Black and Lupin. Black looked like he wanted to smirk as if she had done something funny, and Lupin looked concerned.

"Remus- you don't believe this madness do you?" Pettigrew's voice grew as strong as a gutless turncoat's voice could, but at least he stopped sounding as if he needed to catch his breath.

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat." Lupin replied evenly.

"Innocent, but scared!" Squealed Pettigrew. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it's because I put one of their best men in Azkaban- the spy, Sirius Black!"

"How dare you," Black's face contorted as he spoke and Hermione thought she could see Narcissa reacting the same way at being accused of an act so repulsive. "When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? You, Peter, you always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us. Me, Remus, _ James _." Pettigrew whimpered at Harry's father being mentioned and Hermione tilted her head to the side.

"Show us your arm." No one expected Hermione to speak, but Pettigrew was more than happy to lift the sleeve of his right arm up.

"See? I am no follow-"

"Your _ other _ arm, Mr. Pettigrew." Hermione's voice showed that she was more than tired of waiting around in the small bed room.

Pettigrew completely paled and Black sneered. "Go on, Peter." Pettigrew started to mutter to himself and took a step towards the boarded window behind him, causing Hermione to raise her wand in warning. He stepped away and started to glance around for any other exit he could make. "Show us your arm!" Black yelled and slammed a fist into the bed frame, causing it to shake despite the weight of the dense wood. Pettigrew whimpered and shoved the sleeve of his dingy suit up to reveal the dark mark. It was slightly blurred but the skull and snake were apparent. Hermione had seen it before in books she read and knew that Black was to be believed.

"So you killed them." Harry said in a low voice. Black lifted his heard and some tension was relieved in the room at Harry believing Black was innocent. "After faking your death."

"The first time." Hermione added. "You put your blood all over Ron's bed and disappeared after framing Crookshanks in a second attempt, didn't you?"

"Never learned not to play the same trick twice, did you?" Lupin took a step closer and was closely followed by Black.

Pettigrew fell to his knees and crawled over to Ron who barely drew back his injured leg in time before Black grabbed at his pant leg. "Ron... Haven't I been a good friend- a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... you're on my side, aren't you?"

"I let you sleep in my bed!" He yelled, completely horrified.

Pettigrew turned to Harry next. "Kind boy... kind master... Harry, you look just like your father- just like him-"

"HOW DARE YOU?" Hermione hissed but Black bellowed. They shared a brief look before Pettigrew crawled after Hermione.

The movement made her jump back in surprise before she saw red, listening sounding even mousier than before. "Sweet girl... clever girl... you wouldn't... please, help me!" _ What kind of person- after I threatened him? _ Hermione picked up her leg and stomped down hard, aiming for Pettigrew's hand with the shortage in digits, intent on taking off one more finger. Pettigrew pulled back before her blow could land and sat on his knees, wringing his hands once more. He was visibly shaking, but Hermione could hardly care. As far as she was concerned, he was the one who should die if he couldn't get a dementors kiss.

Black grabbed the back of Peter's suit and pulled him so the man was on his back. He cried out and Lupin pointed his wand down at Pettigrew. "You should have realized that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would."

Without a second thought, Hermione went beside him, wand pointed down on him. Black held out a hand as if to ask for the wand and she raised her eyebrows, slightly dumbfounded that he thought she would give up her weapon so easily. "You're a child, you've been through a lot, but you shouldn't have blood on your hands."

She made a snarky noise that could have been a variation of a snort. "That's hypocritical. You just want to kill him yourself."

Black's eyes darkened again and his voice changed from the soft voice he had adopted. "I have a right to."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I think Harry has the real _ right _ if that's the game you're wanting to play." She glanced back at Harry who looked uncertain for a moment. He glanced at Ron who looked away, knowing what he wanted to say, but respecting Harry enough to make the decision himself. Harry glanced at Lupin, then Black before his eyes settling on Hermione. She watched as his piercing gaze drifted down her arm, off her wand and land on Pettigrew. She saw the subtle change in his face and knew what her best friend had decided before he could say it.

"Don't kill him." Harry took a step forward, leaving Ron to grip the wall for support.

Hermione glared down at Pettigrew, jaw tight, and let her arm fall to her side.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black snarled. "This cringing piece of-"

"I know," Harry interrupted. Pettigrew glanced at Lupin then his wand as Lupin turned to look at Harry. Hermione nudged the hideous man with her shoe and snarled so he knew she was watching him. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors... He can go to Azkaban... but don't kill him."

"Harry!" gasped Pettigrew, and he tried rolling to his side, possibly to grovel at Harry's feet. "You- thank you- it's more than I deserve-" Pettigrew grunted as he finally landed on his stomach again. "Thank you." Pettigrew tried to crawl over to Harry, but Harry took a step back and grabbed Ron to help him out of the room.

"Don't come close to me." Harry spat. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers." Hermione still hadn't looked up as she watched Pettigrew, hiding her fury from everyone else. _ He shouldn't be able to live! Why Harry-_ "I know I don't want to."

Hermione looked up at him then. His soft, emerald eyes pierced right though the walls of strength and fury she put and she felt her bottom lip tremble. _ Would I have really done it? _ Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Several things happening at once.

The first was Sirius' body flying across the room and slamming into the wall next to Pettigrew where he slid to the ground with a grunt. The second was _ Expelliarmus _ being cast and Lupin's wand flew across the room- right into Snape's hand.

Hermione aimed her wand at Pettigrew again, making sure he did not think to move an inch.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Said Snape in his usual cold, monotone voice as he threw Harry's invisibility cloak to the side. Hermione bit the inside of her mouth. _ Why does he leave that thing everywhere! _ "Very useful, Potter, I thank you..." Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" His eyes were glittering as he looked at every face- but Pettigrew's as the bed was blocking him from Snape's view entirely- from the doorway. "I've just been to our office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... Lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me everything I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight.

"Professor-" Hermione began, attempting to tell Snape about Peter Pettigrew, but he overrode her.

"I've told the headmaster again and again Lupin that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and now I have the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout-"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Lupin urgently. "You haven't heard everything- I can explain- Sirius is not here to kill Harry-"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," Snape continues, eyes gleaming fanatically. "Dumbledore was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a _ tame _ werewolf-" He cackled at his discriminatory comment and Hermione's hair would have bristled if she were a cat.

"Professor Snape, please-"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat at her. "You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds,in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, _ hold your tongue _." Hermione felt the blood drain her face then. _ Suspension? _ Hermione huffed as the neurotic laugh died on her lips. _ What did I expect if I had killed Pettigrew? Or Black? _ The answer was she hadn't thought about it. She let her unbridled rage get the best of her and now she was going to face repercussions if Snape didn't realize the mistake he was trying to make. Justice would have been served, but she wasn't above the law.

"But Peter Pettigrew, Sir-"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking more deranged that Sirius had ever looked.

"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Ron yelled and he tried to leap forward, causing Harry to nearly fall with him when Ron fell forward, forgetting his injury for a brief moment. "ALL YOU DO IS BULLY KIDS DECADES YOUNGER THAN YOU AND NOW YOU WON'T EVEN LIST-"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" When Snape yelled, sparks started to fly out of the tip of his wand. It was a sight that Hermione had seen before when a wizard was angry, but it made her wonder why that wasn't what happened with her when she was angry.

_ Enough of that, the situation is getting out of hand. _ She took a moment to think about what was going on while Snape was distracted. She bit her lip- Black was unable to do anything in his current state, Lupin was to far to charge at Snape _ and _ wandless once again. Harry was holding Ron and had joined the argument now so she decided that she was the one who had to do something.

But Harry and Ron somehow came to the same conclusion as all three Gryffindor students pointed their wands at Snape as they yelled out _"EXPELLIARMUS! _"

He flew out of the room and Hermione immediately followed to check on him. She kept her arm raised, but lowered it when she saw him in a heap on the floor. "Lumos." She jogged the few feet over to him and crouched by his head. He was entirely unconscious, but breathing. _ We attacked a teacher. We attacked a teacher. We attacked a teacher. _ The severity of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks and she tried to back into the room when she saw Crookshanks peel out of the room, followed by Lupin who only stopped to retrieve his wand from Snape.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

"What-?" She said before Sirius emerged into the hallway, was gripping his arm. Harry and Ron following behind him. "What happened?"

"Pettigrew transformed again." Harry informed her as Black started to walk off towards the tunnel.

"What?!"

"We were all in shock and Lupin didn't have a wand... He transformed in the middle of the commotion and ran out."

"We need to go." Black bit out through ground teeth. Hermione could only imagine how he felt.

Hermione glanced back at Snape. "We have to take him." Black grunted and Harry and Ron looked like they might argue, but she continued talking to take control of the situation. "Ron your leg- I can't heal it but the best we can do is wrap it for now." Without waiting for his permission, she tapped her wand to his leg "_ Ferula _."__

_ __ _

_ __ _

Bandages spun up his leg and wrapped his leg to a splint made of the remains of the door Black blew apart.

Ron gave a slight sigh of relief being able to put some weight on leg now. "That's better, thanks."

Hermione nodded after taking a shakey breath herself. A part of her wondered how she was able to stand still, she should have collapsed under the stress, but somehow she was able to stand. She was scared, but she wasn't exactly feeling brave. She felt stressed beyond belief as she saw no way of getting out of this without some consequences, but she wasn't sorry for what had happened thus far.

Then she realized it. She felt in control... She felt strong. Hermione chose to come back for Harry, Hermione chose to use her magic without a wand after she figured out how to do it, Hermione chose to believe Black over Pettigrew and Hermione chose to hex Snape. It was a breath of fresh air to not collapse into tears and she felt... alive.

"I need his wand." She said, her voice sounding a bit loud after processing the revelation she had in her head.

"Here." Harry said as he passed her Snape's wand. "It came to us." Another sign that her magic may have been weakened, but she didn't dare let it distract her or bring her down now.

Another nod and she returned to Snape's body, realizing Black was fidgeting wanting to chase after Lupin and Pettigrew. "Go ahead of me, I'll catch up."

Harry and Ron looked as if they would protest, but even with Ron's leg wrapped, it was best to get a head start.

Hermione used a light sticking charm to put Snape's wand in his hand. _"Mobilicorpus. _" She whispered and his body immediately flew into the air, hands up like a marionette. His head lolled about on his shoulders and she inspected it to find he was bleeding just a little bit. _ Oh, please don't be serious. "Episkey. Scourgify. _"

By the time she finished, she couldn't hear them anymore, but it didn't bother her. Hermione looked up, and gave a silent prayer to her parents- even though she had never been a believer- that it wasn't too late to catch Pettigrew.


	24. End of Year Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to dedicate this year to my best friend, Jarred. Even though this is just a fic, you’ve never stopped supporting me though it.  
So thank you, with all my heart <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

_Cherry and Jasmine. Hermione inhaled her mother's scent deeply and didn't twitch when she felt bangs being pushed out of her face, giving her a whiff of the Sulfur still on her mother's fingers._

_"Mum," she murmured, feeling as if she was five years old as she laid on her mother's chest with her eyes closed. She didn't care though, but she felt like it had been forever since she had spent time with her mother like this. _Why don't I do this more? _Hermione wanted to keep her eyes closed, but she had the nagging feeling in her chest that she needed to get up. "Mum, my head hurts."_

_Jean Granger chuckled as Hermione felt someone sit bedside her. "That's because you sleep too much, Sunshine." William Granger's baritone voice answered her. She opened her eyes to see she was in a white room with a glowing pastel pink light, but she didn't lift her head off of her mother's chest._

_She gave her father a broad grin, but couldn't keep it as her mood sank. _Why am I sad? _"It's the only thing that helps, da." _Da._ She hadn't called him that in years._

_He gave her a shadow of a smile. "You can't expect to grow if you keep yourself hidden from the sunlight. Tell me, when you choose not to handle things before thinking about it, does it ever end well? Your feelings will demand to be felt and choosing to ignore them will never make the real issue go away." He put a hand on her knee. "You've done so well today, but you need to keep going- and not just for tonight either."_

_Hermione was used to her mother being the one who laid down the truth so when her dad did it, it alarmed her. She tried to wrap her arms around her mother but Jean grabbed her wrists. Hermione fought a little bit, tears stinging her eyes as her inner ache became almost crushing. "Why can't I hug you? You feel so far away."_

_"Hermione, you can't hug us." Hermione looked up at her mom's hazel eyes then. She had always wished he had her mother's pretty eyes instead of her father's brown ones. "If you do, you'll end up like us." Hermione blinked and she _remembered. _Her parents were dead and hugging anyone dead in a dream was supposed to mean the dreamer would soon die._

_Hermione sat up to glance between her mother and father, frowning. "You don't believe in superstitions."_

_Jean cupped Hermione's face with both hands. She kissed her daughters forehead and smiled. "We're always with you Hermione. Even when you're living with your new family."_

_"They're not-" She started as she stared up at her mom. "They're not your replacement!"_

_"There, there. We never said they were." William patted Hermione's knee and she looked at him. When she did she knew her mother had vanished. Panic started to fill her and the white light of the room started to grow dimmer. "It's time to wake up."_

_"No, Dad, don't leave me!" She quickly gripped the front of his shirt, begging him to stay._

_"We love you, Hermione. Please be good and- _wake up!"

"NO!" Hermione sat up and nearly collided with Harry who was shaking her awake.

"Hermione, stop!" Harry gripped her wrists tighter until she stopped fighting him. She looked around, remembering not just where she was, but how she got there: Pettigrew had ran away, Everyone chased after him- Hermione toting an unconscious Snape- until the clouds cleared the way revealing a full moon that Lupin was unable to resist, making him transform. Everyone split up as Sirius fought Lupin off, causing Harry and Hermione to end up in the forest where they were attacked by dementors. When they had woken up again, they discovered that Snape had woken up and saved them, but only so he could be awarded with an Order of Merlin by Minister Fudge who had returned to the school at the news of Sirius Black being caught. Not a second after Snape and Fudge left the hospital wing, Hermione was given permission by Dumbledore to use the Time-Turner to save Buckbeak and Sirius. It was only her and Harry who were able to go back in time as Ron was unable to move around properly and had to drink Skelegrow to repair his damaged leg.

"You must still be weak from the dementors." Harry commented, taking note of her pale complexion.

"I'm fine." She said as she got up from her spot against the tree, not wanting him to know that he was in fact right. Neither of them had thought to grab chocolate before leaving and Hermione regretted it entirely. On top of everything that had happened in the day _before_ getting attacked by dementors, she was already daydreaming about how great she would sleep tonight. _That's because you sleep too much, Sunshine._ She shivered at the whisper from her dream, but spoke so Harry would not comment- _if_ he had even caught it in the shadows the forbidden forest had provided them. "What did I miss?"

"Not much. We haven't arrived yet, but I imagined we are getting close to that time- the sun is setting."

She sighed, "I went back too far. My fingers were shaking so much..."

"We only had to wait a little longer- We both needed to rest anyway." He gave her a look that reassured her that he genuinely didn't mind and she thought it best not to argue.

Remembering a camping trick her parents taught her, Hermione held several fingers horizontally on the horizon where the sun met the trees beside the castle. Each finger was supposed to equal fifteen minutes until sun down and the distance between the treeline and the sun was less than a finger's width. "We should have less than fifteen minutes until we get there then." She looked over the grounds before her eyes drifted over her shoulder, back to the area of the forest where they had been attacked. "Harry, there's something I don't understand." She said this quietly before tucking a stray curl behind her ear and glancing up at him. "Why didn't the dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming as the three of us had ran into the forest to escape Professor Lupin, and then I passed out... there were so many of them..." The shadows beneath her started to swirl around the floor, looking like the edges of the dementors cloaks. She closed her eyes tightly, willing herself to not fall into a flashback. _Not here, not now._

Harry explained what he had seen; that Sirius and Hermione passed out and right as he was about to, a large silver thing had come galloping across the lake and drove off every single dementor. His vision was blurry as he had been on the edge of consciousness, but he thought he saw another figure across the lake.

"Well, what was the silver thing you mentioned?"

"There's only one thing it could have been, to make the dementors go. It had to have been a real patronus. A powerful one." He had explained he was getting private lessons from Lupin on how to conjure one, but she could hardly find material on the spell herself when she looked.

She looked thoughtful and her lips twisted to the side in thought. "But who conjured it? Do you think it was Snape?"

Harry was silent for a moment, and his hands turned into fists as he shook his head. Hermione recognized the stance well enough to know that Harry was holding something back.

"Didn't you see what they looked like?" Hermione pressed. He took a deep breath, but did not reply. He avoided looking at her and she took a couple steps closer to him. "It must have been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those dementors away... If the patronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light the wizard up? Couldn't you see-?"

"Yeah I saw him," Harry said slowly. He was close to saying what he thought and Hermione knew it. "But... maybe I just imagined it. I wasn't thinking straight and I _did_ pass out right afterward..."

Her patience was wearing thin and she forced herself to sound as calm as possible. "_Who did you think it was_?"

"I think-" He swallowed hard and Hermione noticed for the first time that he had an adams apple forming. It was weird to think back at how he had grown from the beginning of the year. "I think it was my dad." He looked up at Hermione with hesitant eyes. It hurt that he felt the need to walk on eggshells around her with his own thoughts and feelings, but she didn't comment on that.

"But- Harry..." Her voice sounded far away as thoughts filled her head. _Who did Harry see? Was it actually his father's ghost? If Harry's parents could come back as ghosts after thirteen years, would mine? Could my parents become ghosts sooner than that? Did that mean there was a chance I could see them again?_

"I know, he's dead." His voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Yes." She replied simply, still feeling a thread of hope build in her. "You think you saw his ghost?" She wanted him to verbally confirm her theory, and was deflated with his reply.

"I don't- No..." The crease in his brow deepened. "No, he looked solid."

"But then-"

"Maybe I was seeing things," Harry said again, convincing himself he was wrong so he wouldn't get his hopes up. "But... from what I could see, it looked like him... I've got photos of him." He looked away from her and he saw movement in front of the hut. "Look!"

The topic of conversation completely forgotten, Hermione jumped behind a tree for additional cover as she saw the door to Hagrid's cabin open, then close. "That had to be us he let in, let's get closer." They had hid themselves off to the sides by the greenhouse to make sure not even Hagrid had seen them. Now that they were right behind his hut where Buckbeak was tied up, Harry was ready to act.

He took a step closer, but Hermione grabbed him. "Not yet."

"Why not? This is perfect-"

"We need to get Buckbeak _after_ the Ministry see him tied up. If they come and don't see him, Hagrid will be accused of letting him go."

There was a crash from inside the hut followed by Past Hermione's scream when she found Peter Pettigrew in one of Hagrid's milk jugs.

"That's only give us like sixty seconds. What if we just run in and grab Pettigrew now?"

"No!" She hissed and he looked down at her, frustrated he had to stand by instead of act. "We are breaking one of the most important Wizarding Laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, Nobody!" She then went into a condensed, but still lengthy explanation straight out of _Time-Turners: A History_ about why even only being seen by your past self could result in death.

"Okay!" said Harry in the middle of her tirade. "It was just an idea, I just thought-"

Hermione had nudged him and pointed to the castle where Dumbledore was being followed by Fudge, the executioner and Lucius. "I'm going to hex all of his hair off when I get back to the manor." Hermione growled making Harry chuckle before he grabbed her sweater and pointed to Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid's back door opened with Harry, Ron, and Hermione spilling out. Past Hermione was trying to open up the invisibility cloak as wide as possible so they could all disappear under it as they no longer fit as well as they had in their first and second year.

"Go!" Hagrid said, unaware about the adults making their way to his hut. "It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!" Hermione and Harry watched as Past Hermione threw the Invisibility Cloak over the their past selves. "Go quick. Don' listen..."

"Is that what my hair looks like?" Hermione wondered out loud and Harry gave her a quizzical look.

"Now is not the time to be a girl, Hermione." He joked.

"Oh, shut up." But there was very little venom in it as she smiled.

Right as the back door closed, Dumbledore knocked on Hagrid's door and the men climbed inside the hut as three pairs of feet flattened random patches of grass as they walked back to the castle.

Hermione and Harry were now able to hear the conversation that took place inside the hut after they left the first time;

"Where is the beast?" Hermione assumed this was the voice of the executioner as it sounded nothing a like the other four men.

"Out-outside," Hagrid croaked.

Harry was about to step out of the cover of the trees when the executioner's face appeared in Hagrid's window, causing Hermione to pull him back in such a haste, he ended falling on her. Hermione thought she saw Macnair staring in their direction and held her breath hoping that he hadn't seen them.

If they were discovered, it would be more than Buckbeak and Black who would be dead.

* * *

"We- er- have to read you the official notice of execution, Hagrid." Fudge said. The more Lucius hung around the Minister, the more pitiful he found him. Fudge was nervously licking his lips and trying to look everywhere, _but_ at Hagrid, who towered over them all. _A sheep in wolf's clothing for sure _he thought. Fudge was starting to remind Lucius of Peter Pettigrew, a former death eater who was bullied by the rest of their group for being a weakling, only on their side because it seemed to be the winning side. "I'll make it quick, then you and Macnair will need to sign it." When Macnair didn't move from the Window, Fudge continued, "Macnair, you're supposed to listen too." Macnair shifted from one foot to the other as he turned around. He seemed as if he had seen something outside, but wasn't sure of it and was anxious to investigate.

"There's many creatures in the woods behind this hut, you shouldn't try to behead _all_ of them." Lucius said and the two morbid men shared a laugh before returning their attention to Fudge.

"I thought this was an appeal?" Hagrid said, glancing between Fudge, whose breathing quickened at being addressed by the half-giant. "I prepared tea and- and rock cakes." Dumbledore placed a hand on Hagrid's arm to stop him. Hagrid bent over so Dumbledore could whisper something in his ear and the half giant straightened up again. This time with watery eyes but a stern look on his face. "Go on, Minister."

The gruffness in his voice had Minister Fudge reading the order in a brisk sweat. "_It is the decision of the committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall be executed.._." Lucius let his mind wander as Fudge spoke. He didn't _need _to be here, he only came to make face and to see if he could meet with Draco. Any chance he had to physically verify Draco was alright, he took, even if he was in a fortress like Hogwarts most of the year. Unfortunately though, he hadn't been able to spot his son anywhere and Lucius was not in the mood to haggle with Dumbledore on visitation time. "_Sentenced to execution by beheading, to be carried out by the Committee's appointed executioner, Walden Macnair, as witnessed below. _Macnair, you sign here." Macnair obliged with a quill that was conjured by Dumbledore. "And Hagrid-" Fudge said quietly, holding out the parchment as far away as he could as if Hagrid would grab him and break him over a knee.

"Well, let's get this over with." Lucius said, making a show of slipping on a glove before touching Hagrid's door. He stepped outside and froze in the middle of putting on his other glove at the sight of Hermione and Harry Potter trying to pull a resisting Buckbeak into the forest. He had a split-second to consider the cons of letting her and Harry getting caught verses letting them get away.

Lucius rushed back inside, nearly bumping into Fudge who was about to step out himself. "Lucius, what are you-"

"On second thought, what type of tea do you have, _ah_, Hagrid?" He enunciated every vowel in Hagrid's name in a way that barely concealed how he felt about the groundskeeper.

Hagrid was not as stupid as Lucius hoped and did nothing but stare at the platinum blond aristocrat. Dumbledore, who wanted to delay having Hagrid watch the execution, walked over to the cauldron and lifted the lid. He took the time to swirl the boiling liquid. "Do you mind if the tea leaves are floating free in your tea, Lucius?"

Lucius' eye twitched at the Headmaster not calling him by his surname, but did not correct him. _Beggars and soothsayers drink tea like that. _"I do mind, perhaps a rock cake? Is that what you called them?" _Sweet Circe, let them be softer than they sound._

Hagrid seeing that Dumbledore was being polite to Lucius, decided to follow suit. "Yes, mummy's recipe." Hagrid turned around to pick up the metal pan on the table behind him. Fudge and Macnair jumped to the side as Hagrid extended the hot pan to Lucius. Lucius stared down at the cakes and picked up the one that was almost a golden brown rather than a deep brown or charcoal colored.

"I think we should get this started." Macnair said this, looking over from Lucius' cake to Fudge as he thumb his ax with slightly more vigor than he did earlier. _A trigger finger for sure_, Lucius noted as he tried to bite into the cake. He thought he felt a crack form in his teeth and pulled back immediately, looking at the 'cake' with a traitorous glare. _Not even a bite mark._

Everyone started to walk towards the door Lucius had been blocking. He went to put his cake down when he heard a faint voice outside. "Quick, quick, quick."

"What was that?" Macnair looked over his shoulder where the window was.

"My stomach, I'm famished." Lucius gave an embarrassed laugh as he lifted the dessert to his face again. _Why does that blasted girl have to meddle in everything?! _"Perhaps I should have some tea to soften it up a bit."

Dumbledore made to grab a mug to put tea in when Macnair spoke again. "Oi, we can't take all day now!"

"Would you like some tea, too?" Dumbledore asked after pouring some of the hot liquid into the mug and holding it out to the executioner. Macnair answered by pushing the tea back to the older wizard.

"I agree," Fudge quipped. "Hagrid, perhaps it would be better if you stay inside with Lucius while he gets his fill and-" Fudge tried to suggest, too scared Hagrid would become violent over the death of a creature in his care.

"No, I- I wan' ter be with him... I don' wan' him ter be alone." Hagrid looked completely defeated and his eyes were full of tears. Lucius would have laughed at the half-giant if he wasn't scrambling to think of anyway to delay the men from leaving the hut.

The men collected in front of Lucius who was completely blocking the front door while he gingerly sipped his tea, pretending not to notice. He couldn't think of anything else to delay everyone from going outside. Fudge and Macnair were itching to get the slaughter over with to go back home, while the rest of them were wanting the inevitable delayed- all for different reasons.

Lucius reluctantly stepped to the side and Macnair brushed by him as he opened the door. Lucius glared at the back of his head and gripped the cake tightly between his fingers- only causing pain and annoyance as the cake did not even have a crumb appear from the pressure he put on it. _If she's still here there I'll murder her myself for the scandal she'd have caused..._

When Lucius stepped out behind Macnair and saw a now empty back yard where he had last seen Buckbeak, Hermione, and Harry, he left out a silent sigh of relief that she didn't get caught.

* * *

"It was tied here!" The executioner said furiously, pointing an arm in front of him. "I saw it! Just here!"

Hermione couldn't help but let a smirk crawl into place as she glanced back at a very still Harry and Buckbeak- both who seem to be listening intently at the scene they could hardly see before them.

"How extraordinary," Dumbledore said, a hint of amusement in his voice as he turned to Lucius Malfoy. "I wonder where it could have gone."

Hermione saw Lucius not just silently, but wandlessly vanish the contents of his mug and rock cake. He straightened when Dumbledore addressed him as he was caught by surprise. She thought she saw him purse him lips before glancing at the woods, as if searching the growth for any sign of Buckbeak. "Perhaps it flew off, Headmaster."

There was a swishing sound followed by the thud of the executioner's axe as he swung it into the fence in anger. Hagrid didn't comment on the assault against his property as he was overcome with tears of joy. "Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's _gone_!" Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"

Hermione heard a heavy footfall and saw Buckbeak straining against the rope to get back to Hagrid. Harry pulled back with everything he had and Hermione quickly joined him in digging their heels into the dirt. "Buckbeak, no!"

"Someone untied him!" She heard the executioner exclaim. "We should search the grounds, the forest-"

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him on foot?" Said Dumbledore, sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"You had Brandy?" Lucius asked in a clipped tone before he could stop himself.

Buckbeak had stopped pulling and Harry pointed back to the area of the trees behind the green house where they hid before, suggesting they started to move further into hiding. Hermione shook her head as she pointed at the men before her, then pressed the same finger to her lips.

Hagrid gave a look to Lucius that made the shorter wizard blink and hand the mug back to Hagrid. "I best be heading back to the manor, Narcissa's waiting for my return." With that, the men all started to disappear- Hagrid and Dumbledore entered the hut while the rest of the men walked towards the front of the castle to dissapperate. Harry and Hermione were alone again with a slightly disgruntled Buckbeak, who was clawing at the ground anxiously, wanting to get back to Hagrid.

"Now what?" Harry asked as he ran his finger's through Buckbeak's feathers, in a gentle attempt to calm him.

"We'll have to keep hiding in here." Hermione replied as she ran a hand over her hair, trying not to look shaken, but could feel herself failing. Her mind remained unclouded though and she willed her body to keep up. _Sirius still needs to be saved._ "We need to wait until they've completely gone back into the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window. He won't be there for a while..." She bit her lower lip. "Oh, this is going to be difficult..." _Calm yourself _she heard Dr. Augsen's voice in her head.

She took a deep breath before looking at her best friend again. Harry had a stern look on his face and she knew he was thinking hard about their current situation. "We're going to have to move," he said finally. "We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on."

She nodded vigorously. "Okay." She carefully maneuvered around Buckbeak while keeping her grip on the rope. She was careful not to look directly into Buckbeak's eyes as she stood in the direction closest to the Whomping Willow. "But we've got to keep out of sight, Harry. Remember: We can not interfere or-"  
"Be seen." He gave a nod as he joined her side and held on to Buckbeak's rope in the event the Hippogriff tried to veer off. "I got it."

They set off towards the part of the forest where they could clearly see the Whomping Willow. Determined not to fail, lest they be forced to face the consequences of what would happen.

* * *

"Harry!" Hermione was tugging at Harry's sleeve as he stared at where Sirius and Buckbeak flew off from the west wing's tower. She was still slightly pissed at him for tricking her into staying hidden with Buckbeak while he ran off to see who had cast the patronus that saved their lives by the lake. It turned out it was _this_ Harry who had saved them all, so it was a good that he _did_ interfere, but it didn't stop her from being left in a flurry of both negative and positive emotions. As much as she wanted to celebrate having saved Sirius, there was no time to celebrate. "We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us- before Dumbledore locks the door so we can go back in-"

"Let's go!" He wrenched his gaze from the sky and grabbed Hermione's sleeve, bolting down the hallways and sliding down the stairs with a quick _glisseo_. Hermione would immediately release the charm after they got to the bottom to make sure their tracks were covered. Her legs burned with a familiarity she had forgotten, and her breathing slipped back into the same pattern it did when she used run track and field competitively. Her body objected, but it still helped her remain focused.

"Hermione- What'll happen- if we don't get back inside- before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harry panted. He had fallen behind her, but she refused to look back in the event it slowed her down.

"I don't want to think about it!" They were on the ground floor and she allowed herself an attempt to check her watch. "One minute!" Hermione refused to acknowledge the stitch in her side until she and Harry were turning the last corner so they were in the hallway where Dumbledore would be stepping into before locking their past selves in the hospital room.

Hermione nearly stumbled into the door as she pressed herself against it to hear any signs of the being too late. "I can hear Dumbledore!" She half hissed to Harry who was still half-way down the hall behind her. "Come _on_, Harry!" When he finally came to a stop in front of her, gasping for air, Dumbledore finally stepped out of the room after instructing past Hermione and Harry on using the Time-Turner.

Dumbledore closed the large wooden door before him and withdrew his wand to lock it. "Headmaster?"

Dumbledore turned to Hermione and smiled. "Well?"

"We did it!" Harry said breathlessly. "Sirius and Buckbeak..." Harry had straightened up, but was gripping his own stitch.

"Well done. I think-" Dumbledore cracked opened the door. "Yes, I think you've gone too- get inside. I'll lock you in, for real this time." The old wizard chuckled as Hermione and Harry slipped inside. Hermione wiped the sweat off of her face as she climbed back into the bed she was in. She wished she was back in her dorm so she wouldn't have to sleep in such heavy clothes, but knew she probably wouldn't even need her dreamless sleep draught with everything that had happened.

Hermione checked on a still sleeping Ron, and a moment later Madam Pomfrey appeared, hands on her hips and grumbling- she was in such a bad mood. "Did I hear the headmaster leave? Am _I_ allowed to look after my patients _now_?" She started to work at the block of chocolate between Hermione and Harry's bed with something that looked like a wide version of an icing spatula. Hermione had never seen Madam Pomfrey so angry, but then again, she never saw Madam Pomfrey be dismissed from her practice like she was before her and Harry traveled back in time.

When they had gotten their fourth piece of chocolate down, they started to hear an angry buzzing. Madam Pomfrey looked up and Hermione looked over at Harry, both students being concerned by the noise. The buzzing grew into a rumble before shortly turning into what Hermione identify as words.

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPERATE!" Snape roared, now very close to the closed doors of the hospital wing. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE _OR_ DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS- HAS -SOMETHING- TO- DO- WITH- POTTER!"

"Severus- be reasonable- Harry has been locked up-"

The hospital wing burst open and Hermione winced, imagining some of the wood _hand_ to splinter when it hit the large stones that made the wall.

Snape strode towards them with Dumbledore and Fudge flanking him. Dumbledore looked calm and almost as if he was enjoying the scene before him. Hermione wanted to smile herself knowing his delight meant she would be alright, but knew that it was hardly appropriate. Fudge looked angry, which gave Hermione a feeling of grim satisfaction. Snape was completely beside himself and it slightly alarmed her. Hermione knew that he was more than aware she had hexed him and wouldn't put it past him for Snape to seek revenge on her like he had with Sirius and Lupin.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he bellowed and there was a slight echo from the sound bouncing off the walls as Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only students in the wing.

"Professor Snape!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked as she wielding the spatula in front of her. "Control yourself!"

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape howled and Hermione was reminded of a toddler having a tantrum as the professor pointed at Harry and Hermione, especially when spit started to fly out of his mouth from how angry he was.

"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked, wanting to regain control of the situation. "You're talking nonsense!"

"You don't know Potter, Minister!" Snape turned to away from the two Gryffindors. "He did it, I know he did it-"

"Professor, we've been here the whole fifteen minutes you've been gone."

Hermione almost regretted not taking Fudge and Snape's advice in holding her tongue. The look he gave Hermione made any look he gave Harry look entirely welcoming. He nearly took a step forward, but Dumbledore came to her rescue- quite literally.

"That will do, Severus," the headmaster said quietly. "Think about what you are saying, This door has been locked since I left the ward. Madam Pomfrey, have the students left their beds?"

"Of course not!" Madam Pomfrey placed her fists back on her hips at the question. "I would have heard them."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows to Severus. "Well there you have it. Unless you are suggesting Hermione and Harry could be at two places at once, I don't see any point in troubling them further. They need rest."

"Exactly! It's past curfew and being kept up helps none of them!" Hermione knew Madam Pomfrey to be stern, but she had never been known to loose her cool like this, even when faced with a student who _looked_ dead.

Snape stood there, seething for a moment before whirling around so his robes swished behind him. Hermione wondered if it was a Slytherin thing that they insisted on having their robes whip behind them. Hermione was humored for a second imaging Draco trying to flick his robes in the same fashion as Lucius and Snape.

Fudge let out a heavy sigh and Hermione wondered how a politician could barely handle confrontation, but still manage to become Minister of Magic. "Fellow seems quite unbalanced. I'll have to send him an owl saying we were unable to offer the Order of Merlin first class... Who knows what he may do to me face to face..." Fudge started to walk towards the exit and Dumbledore nodded to Hermione and Harry before following. "I need to contact Rita Skeeter, I promised her an exclusive interview to whomever caught Black-"

Their voices faded, but not before Hermione could faintly make out Dumbledore asking about Fudge's wife as they grew farther away from where she sat. Fudge sputtered before they both stepped into the hallway.

Hermione laid down and her vision filled with gray almost immediately after blinking. Her eyelids were heavy, making them droop lower and lower. She felt every ache and pain in her body hit her at once and she silently groaned as she slipped into a deep sleep that was well-deserved.

Before she completely knocked out, she imaged her father's jovial laugh and her mother whispering into her ear: _We're proud of you_, allowing her to fall asleep with a smile on her lips.

* * *

Draco kept a bored expression on his face as he unlatched Pansy from his shoulders and turned around.

"Drakey-" She tried to object, but the look he gave her stopped her in her verbal tracks.

"I told you, you were not sitting with us in our cabin." Theo and Blaise slipped past Draco and Pansy, throwing their trunks on the overhead shelf.

"But-" Her eyes grew wide with panic, but he refused to let her argue.

"No." Blaise took Draco's truck from him, earning him a nod from his blonde companion before Draco returned his attention to Pansy. He grabbed her shoulders, twirling her around to look at a fidgeting Milicent Bulstrode down the hallway. "You've neglected Milicent the last week of school to hang around me and _my_ friends. Quite honestly, your company is tiring and you should apologize to her." She gasped and looked over her shoulder at him. He's said worse to her and wasn't phased by the hurt look on her face as he pointed down the hall. "_Go._" Pansy hurried off then, trying to get to her friend and in a cabin to hide her embarrassment. Draco slipped into his own cabin before locking it behind him.

The Slytherin's didn't talk for hours; Theo almost immediately fell asleep once the train started to move, Blaise was reading and Draco was laying on the opposite seats of the cabin with an arm draped over his eyes to help him practice occulemency. It was something he did every year when returning back to Hogwarts. Logic told him that he wouldn't have to worry about Lucius, but his fear from his experiences said that he could never be too careful. Sometimes it was one good lie that saved him from being punished by his father. Lucius never used legimens unless he was already in a rage, but it helped Draco keep a stoic demeanor when talking to anyone.

However, he was having trouble focusing this time around. His mind kept drifting back to Hermione. Draco visited her when Harry and Ron went to the last Hogsmeade trip of the year while she insisted she stay in the hospital wing. He wondered if she knew that he would come after hearing that she was attacked _again._ He almost expected her to fall into harm's way with the Goldren Trio's reputation, and had carried the best Honeyduke's chocolate on his person in the event she had another encounter with a dementor, but got to her before Madam Pomfrey did. His lips turned upward remembering her reaction of him handing her the chocolate in the hospital wing;

_"Norman Love Dark Chocolate?" Hermione asked, turning the chocolate bar over in her hands. "How did you know it was my favorite?"_

_He smirked as he stretched. "Because you just told me." She gave him a questioning look and he elaborated. "I don't buy my sweets unless they're imported from somewhere." He shrugged, "We happen to have similar tastes, I suppose." It was a lie- he didn't dare eat the chocolate knowing it had muggle origins, but he figured it would help cheer her up after an attack if she ate something she recognized._

_Hermione unwrapped the decadent chocolate and made a happy sound as she bit off a square. Closing her eyes she was brought back to happy times in her childhood, but she refused to let the chocolate go bitter in her mouth with memories. She wondered if Draco knew that the candy was muggle, but didn't dare bring it up if he did. After swallowing she held out the chocolate as an offering, but he waved a hand to decline. "No non-imported sweets? You have very expensive taste, you know."_

_"You can't say that while stuffing your face with the expensive thing I bought." She had the grace to look bashful before they both ended up laughing. When they both stopped, he sat in the chair next to her bed. He glanced around to make sure they were still alone before he leaned forward. She had taken another bite of chocolate and was wrapping the foil over itself to save the rest for later. "So now that you have unknowingly accepted my bribe, tell me how you saved Buckbeak."_

_She didn't stop folding the foil, but she looked up at him, eyes wide in faux innocence and lips pressed together in an impish pout. "I didn't save Buckbeak."_

_Draco raised an eyebrow at her, but he expected the push back. "You expect me to believe that our humble groundskeeper, Hagrid, was dishonest enough to purposefully do a poor job at tying the hippogriff down so it could pull free?" He scooted the chair closer and held out his pinky. "Come on now, I don't care about how you saved Sirius- if you did- I just want to know about Buckbeak." Lucius had informed Draco of what he saw, but Draco not only wanted to know the full story, he wanted to know Hermione trusted him._

_He stayed egging her silently for minutes by poking her with his pinky until she finally bit her lip and linked her smallest finger with his. "Fine, but not here and you tell _no one._"_

_He couldn't object like he wanted to as at that moment, Lavender and Parvati came into the hospital, each baring gifts for the only student who was admitted into Madam Pomfrey's care. He stood up and gave Hermione a glare- one that was strictly for show and Hermione knew it. "Fine. When then, Granger?"_

_"At the manor." She fixed a hard glare of her own on her face and crossed her arms. "And that's the best I can do, Malfoy."_

_The two Gryffindor girls were nearly by her bedside so he made a show of sucking a teeth and kicking the leg of her bed causing her to jump. He might have kicked it more forcefully than he meant to though. He hated waiting._

Replaying the scene fully, he was grinning. A moment later, Blaise hit him on his stomach causing him to jump up. "What the hell?" Draco propped himself on his elbow as he glared at his dark friend. "What was that for?"

"You weren't focusing so I figured why not?" Blaise shrugged a shoulder. "Daydreaming about your manor-mate, are we?"

Draco couldn't fight the heat raising to his cheeks. "Shut up."

Baise's smile wavered as he stared at Draco. "Oh. I was only trying to be funny, but this is rich." Blaise waved a finger at Draco and the look he had in his eye had Draco's joke about being a wealthy instead of rich, died on his lips. "You _were_ thinking about her!"

Draco threw his Slytherin robes he was using as a pillow at Blaise. "I said _shut up!_ I was not." Draco crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the ceiling of the train.

Blaise clucked like a hen and Draco didn't need to look over to know that Blaise was shaking his head. "_I'm_ not the one who would have the problem about you _fancying_ Hermione." Blaise did an impression of an English accent to emphasize the word 'fancy' and tossed the robes back to Draco who rolled them back into a makeshift pillow. "It's everyone else."

"I don't _fancy_ anything. I was just thinking about something she told me." He didn't _like_ Hermione. He _couldn't _like Hermione. He knew that- but Draco found himself frowning. How would he even know if he liked her? He never had a serious crush on anyone before anyway. There had been celebrity crushes and he found girls so pretty he nearly forgot how to speak but _fancy_? That was completely foreign. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'm going to sleep, wake me when we get there." Draco turned towards the seat of the train leaving his back to Blaise and a still sleeping Theo.

"Can I use your money to buy something off the trolley?"

Draco nearly objected, but then waved a hand as a sign to go ahead. He trusted Blaise and knew the Italian wouldn't of had asked for no reason. "Sure. So long as you get me... something imported." Draco smiled at his private joke and closed his eyes, syncing his breathing to every fifth 'chug' sound the train made.

Blaise snorted and there was a jingling of coins, followed by a comical "Yes, Lord Malfoy," Which sent both boys into fits of laughter before they both returned to their pastimes, waiting for the train to return them home.

When the Hogwarts students got back to Kings Cross Station, Draco, Blaise and Theo were some of the first students off the train. It was never hard for Draco to spot his parents, but was surprised to see them talking to Molly and Arthur Weasley.

When his mother hugged him in greeting, Draco had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from grinning like a fool as he relaxed in his mother's embrace. The hug was short like it always was and he didn't fight for more time. Lucius nodded at him in greeting then shifted his eyes back to the Weasleys. A small signal to inform Draco that he needed to greet them too.

"Good evening, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley." Draco didn't have any _personal_ issues with the parents of the Weasley bunch, just most of their kids. He knew his bullying had probably had been relayed to them through and was not surprised to see them return his stare with a neutrally polite one of their own.

Arthur nodded and Molly spoke. "Good evening."

There was a tense air hanging between the adults and Draco wondered what was the cause. He knew it had something to do with Hermione, as his parents would never talk to anyone of the lower class otherwise, but they all stayed silent as families bustles around them, happy to have their children back home.

When Hermione finally joined them, she was accompanied by Harry and the _whole_ Weasley clan. She was carrying her trunk as Harry didn't think to grab it and Ron was holding Ginny's. She looked a thousand miles away, but she was able to give a small smile to Narcissa. "Hullo."

Narcissa's eyes flicked from Hermione's face to her eyebrow. "Hello Hermione. Could you come here, please?" Draco silently reached over and pulled Hermione's trunk from her when she stepped forward. She rewarded him with a small smile and Ron glared at him, confirming that he still had a crush on her that Draco would exploit in any way he saw possible. When Hermione was close enough, Narcissa grabbed Hermione's chin and tilted it up, causing Hermione to look straight up at the glass ceiling of the station. "_This is worse than you said, Lucius." _Narcissa rattled off in French looking at her husband before returning to Hermione. "_And why did you not tell me? Did Pomfrey botch your healing?"_ Hermione shook her head free.

"_No, Madam,"_ Hermione opened her mouth to continue and Lucius decided to use this as an opportunity to continue the conversation he was having with Arthur before the kids joined them.

"I do hope you'll change your mind." Lucius said looking at Mr. Weasley. "It seems that Hermione is really close to your family and it would be a shame if she didn't have friends at the gala."

_Oh._ Draco glanced at Hermione who looked over at Molly and Authur Weasley. _Father is really going to use Hermione against them?_

"You're not coming?" The young girl asked, already looking hurt.

Mr. Weasley grew angrier than he already was so Molly Weasley jumped in. "It's not that we don't want to dear... We just may not be able to bring everyone. And if we can't go as a family, we would rather stay home."

Hermione studied the parents of her best friends closely. She wasn't a social butterfly, but she knew when someone was obviously lying to her. She pressed her lips together and felt her face grow pink as she tried to find a polite way to ask them _why _they were refusing to come when she personally asked Narcissa to invite the Weasleys.

She licked her lips and took a few steps forward, her eyes nearly pleading for the truth. "But why-"

"Now, now, Hermione. We mustn't be rude." Narcissa reached over, gripping Hermione's shoulder to pull her back so she stood between Narcissa and Lucius. The image made Draco's throat tighten as he was reminded of the boggart he faced. It caused him to stand closer to his mother for reassurance. _She wouldn't do that. Not intentionally at least..._

The move was misinterpreted by Harry and Ron, something that Draco caught and he sneered as he stared them down, directing his anger towards them. _You may be in her house, but it's my home that she'll come back to every summer._ "We ought to go though. I've prepared your favorite's for dinner tonight, Draco." Narcissa raked a hand through the side of Draco's head, a subconscious gesture she made every time she thought his hair needed a cut.

"That sounds perfect, mother." Draco looked up at his mother and took in her warm smile before they all turned away from Harry and the Weasleys. They took a few steps towards the magicked brick wall that would bring them back to the Muggle King's Cross station, before Hermione broke away from Narcissa, pulling Harry and Ron into a bear hug.

"You two better write me." Her voice warbled and Draco clamped down on the jealously in his chest, forcing himself not to betray any emotion.

"Of course, 'Mione." Ron said with a slight blush coloring his face. Draco nearly rolled his eyes, but remained in control.

Hermione pulled away and turned to Harry. "I heard Sirius Black was on the muggle news. _I'm sure_ your aunt and uncle know about him." Harry blinked at her trying to figure out what she was implying before a grin came on his face.

"Yeah, I'll have to tell them about him." The two laughed and she waved before returning to the waiting Malfoys.

Draco was the last to turn around, lost in his thoughts of what this summer held for him _and_ Hermione.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So in the very beginning when Hermione is dreaming, part of that is inspired by a poem by my favorite poet 'Schuyler Peck.' The poem is called 'A Conversation with my Dog.' She has once book out right now called 'To Hold your Moss Covered Heart' and is filled amazing soul touching works.
> 
> NOW THAT YEAR THREE IS DONE, it may take me a while before I start writing book for- only because I want to reread the Goblet of Fire before I fly off the canon wheels. Thank you for your continued patience.
> 
> Also, I would like to share a song. If you often don't often listen to the links I post, that's totally ok but I would love for you to listen to this one because it's honestly just beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXPB90A-aZo
> 
> It's a cello and piano version of One Summer's Day from the movie Spirited Away. It's a coincidence that it has the two instruments they play and it fits my dramione perfectly I think. The repeated, sad, deep, notes of the cello in the beginning, with the piano notes dancing around it, sounding intrigued but cautious. Then the piano goes silent as the cello breaks from the first notes only to jump back in so they can play together in harmony. It's just so... *chef's kiss*


	25. June 7th, 1994

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An excerpt from the poem 'Questions for the daughters of Nyx':
> 
> Oizyz, is it hard knowing we only love you through our miserable, and never through our happier days?
> 
> _Why would you ever believe I want lifelong patrons, _
> 
> _When it is my duty to ease people through their heartache and guide them through their pain?_
> 
> _It is my duty to help you find_
> 
> _The light at the end of each tunnel,_
> 
> _For she is my sister, Hemera, the day._
> 
> -Nikita Gill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Depression, Child abuse mention, rocky marriage mentioned, Blasphemy.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series or any poems/ books that have been mentioned thus far (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Feeling the tickle in his spine that announced someone was on the Manor's property, Lucius had made his way to the front doors to answer the doors himself, wanting to confront the late night visitor personally. He had sent Crewe off after he had wacked him with his cane for not moving fast enough when Lucius was making him carry the last minute decorations in for the gala. The guest had only knocked twice when Lucius opened the door to see Severus Snape on the manor's steps.

"Severus, you know you have access to our floo." The men grabbed each other's left forearms firmly in greeting. It was how all Death Eaters had greeted each other and it was how the duo continued to greet each other years later. "Although I must admit that I am a bit surprised to see you, did Narcissa not write you that we were suspending the summer lessons this holiday?"

Snape's eyes would have flashed from the emotion that flared within him but his skill of occulemency was as great so he betrayed nothing. "She did, I hope you'll forgive me for bothering you after dinner. There was something I wanted to talk to you about in person though."

Lucius' lips turned down into a worrying frown and he stepped back. "Of course, come in. Should I call for Narcissa?"

Severus stepped past Lucius and looked around the manor. He appreciated the feelings of power he got every time he came to the manor, but never lingered on the emotion too long. "Thank you, Lucius but that is up to you. It does regard her cousin Sirius Black."

Lucius straightened completely, pressing his back against the closed door after crossing his arms. "Are you implying that we know anything about his whereabouts? I would expect questioning from the Ministry, but not you." Lucius would have replied with a threat to anyone else, but he was patient with Severus and always allowed him a chance to explain himself.

"Not at all, however, I happen to know that Hermione might." Lucius face twisted with confusion, but Severus continued as if he didn't notice. "Or at least I think she might. Everything was a bit fuzzy after she had knocked me unconscious."

* * *

Hermione looked down at her watch, watching the red second hand tick into the next minute while she rested her forehead on the door to the small drawing room. She tried to ignore the date on her watch, but the watch face was only so big.

She didn't want to go into the small drawing room for her session with Dr. Augsen. Not for the usual reasons she wanted to skip therapy, although she felt this one was much too soon as she and Draco only got back from Hogwarts yesterday, but because Dr. Augsen insisted on a group session for her first manor visit of the holiday.' She wondered if it had anything to do with what today was, but doubted it.

Hermione was informed of the special visit last night as they ate a tense dinner. She had used her robes to cover her owl's cage that she had coaxed Crookshanks into, but there wasn't a silencing charm like there was on Draco's cage cover. Crookshanks decided then was the time to wake up and start howling to get express his need to be free. Lucius nearly lost his mind and Narcissa sent Hermione with Draco upstairs to unpack. Lucius was very silent throughout the dinner although she could have sworn she heard him mutter things like "a bloody cat", "disrespectful child", and "my own home." She didn't eat much after dinner as she was worried about the group session the next day. When she went to bed, she felt the weird feeling in her back that she felt when Mr. Weasley and Ron were at the manor. It kept her restless even after drinking her nightly potion.

At one o'clock on the dot, she pushed down the brass handle of the door to see Dr. Augsen sitting on the couch with Narcissa. Lucius sat on the arm of the couch on Narcissa's side with his arm crossed. All three pair of eyes watched her silently as she crossed the room to sit on the adjacent couch and Hermione was thankful that Draco was not joining them.

"Good afternoon, Hermione. How-"

"Fine." Hermione looked down at the table in front of her. There was a vase with pink and white orchids in the middle of it.

"Hermione that wasn't very nice." Narcissa chastised with a slight frown.

Hermione felt the embarrassment of being scolded color her cheeks and immediately looked Dr. Augsen in the eyes. "I'm sorry, that was very rude of me."

Dr. Augsen had a small smile that did not reach the rest of the features of her face. "That's quite all right. I know you're not fine." No one spoke for a while after that- Hermione too shy at the moment to speak after her error, Narcissa and Lucius unsure if they should and Dr. Augsen wondering what was bothering her patient.

Hermione looked down at her watch again before deciding to speak. "Do you know what today is?" Her voice sounded small, but firm. She felt uncomfortable with the Malfoys being there, but decided ignoring their presence as much as she could would help her get through the meeting until it was either over or she was used to them. Somewhere along the way, she changed her thinking from sessions as a safe place to cry, but the place to go to where Hermione could refine her mental and emotional tools so she could continue to get better.

"July second." The therapist answered at once, wondering where the question came from. While all three adults had always paid careful attention to Hermione as they chose to walk on eggshells around her, they now had their full attention on her, as if a stray hair or an abnormal fidget would be a clue that Snape was telling the truth. The group session had always been planned, but Andromeda insisted that they did not question Hermione about Snape's claims until after the gala to avoid over stressing Hermione. Lucius disagreed as he could tell Andromeda simply did not find Hermione capable, but played along after Narcissa had agreed that the request was reasonable enough. Narcissa pointed out to him that even though her sister worked for their government, she still held a great mistrust and would not report anything about their escapee cousin.

"Do you know what it means to me, though?" Hermione blinked several times to get rid of the excess water from her eyes and was grateful a second time Draco was not going to be present. Lucius and Narcissa looked at Andromeda who hadn't replied. It was an odd situation as Andromeda had always been the knowledgeable one of the three Black sisters who always had an answer at the ready. "My parents shared a birthday today. It was sort of how they met- They were at the The Barracuda Casino in London to celebrate their birthdays one year and were inseparable ever since. Last year we celebrated by eating at L'Astrance in Paris. It's where I tried Bouillabaisse for the first time." Hermione put her head in her hands and stared at the floor between her knees. She traced the outline of the tassel of the rug beneath her feet with her eyes. The room seemed too quiet and it bothered her as her senses threatened to become overly sensitive.

Dr. Augsen glanced over at Narcissa and heaved a huge sigh. "Your parents, may God rest their souls-"

The mention of a higher power snapped Hermione out of her thoughts. She lifted her head and stared at her therapist with dry eyes. "What does God have to do with any of it? I spent years in a religious institution and not once had He made himself known. Even if he had, they're dead. Gone." Hermione looked away again, but this time it was with a heated glower at the warm fireplace. There wasn't a fire, but the wood was glowing red to the point where it almost looked as if it was moving. Hermione wrote it off that it was her eyes and her mind playing tricks on her. She leaned back and had crossed her legs, bouncing one foot in the air. "Why are we doing a group session? I was never given the details on why we're doing this."

"Group sessions can be beneficial, they help make sure everyone is on the same page as we all work towards a common goal." There was a pause and Hermione looked back at Dr. Augsen, completely unconvinced. "I had also received a letter from Remus Lupin and thought we could talk about the 'over use of your magic' he mentioned. It would help to have Narcissa and Lucius present so they can help support you in getting better."

Hermione felt herself pale, but tried to mimic the neutral masks the adults had, which became harder when Narcissa got up and sat with Hermione. She grabbed Hermione's hands and put them in her own hands. "I believe I mentioned that I have a background in healing?"

"Yes, ma'am." Hermione squeezed Narcissa's hands and was surprised that they were not as soft as she would have imaged them to be.

"Did Aquila ever tell you why she wanted you to practice emptying your mind and start meditating?" Hermione had to pause for a second before remembering that Aquila was Dr. Augsen's first name. She then thought about what Narcissa said for a few seconds, before providing a careful answer.

"I believe it was to help with my stress."

Narcissa gave a quick nod. "Yes, it would help with that."

Dr. Augsen jumped in then. "I believe I mentioned another method that would help."

Hermione became thoughtful again, scanning through every bit of a therapy session she could remember. "I don't remember. I'm sorry." Hermione felt bad and withdrew her hands from Narcissa's.

"Don't feel bad, it was my fault for not fully explaining why I kept pushing for you to practice it." Dr. Augsen gave a bigger smile for reassurance. "Do you ever wonder why any of the Malfoys are hard to read?"

Hermione ran a hand over her hair that she had decided to keep down for the day instead of putting it in a bun or a ponytail. "All the time actually." She said bashfully, quickly glancing at Narcissa for a reaction- but as if to prove her point, there wasn't any. "It's like there's constantly a mask."

Dr. Augsen looked pleased that Hermione was so observant. "That's because they all practice occulemency."

Hermione raised her eye brows now remembering that her therapist had mentioned it once. Hermione frowned, wondering why she hadn't thought about it too much before. "At least Draco and Lucius do. Narcissa has a bit of a natural ability for it."

"You do?" Hermione looked up at Narcissa who gave a warm smile.

"Yes. It's believed that a tiny percentage of wizards have 'more of an edge' over others and will sometimes have a natural ability of 'gift' over others."

Hermione's eyebrows came together at that. "I've never heard of that before."

"Yes, well, a lot of the books at Hogwarts are filtered to the Headmaster's liking." Lucius stated and Hermione saw he had his arms over his chest. "It is also a trait reserved strictly found in purebloods."

"Formerly thought anyway," Dr. Augsen corrected, "Metamorphmagus is considered a gift and there are half-bloods with the trait." Hermione thought Dr. Augsen sounded annoyed but the therapist continued to keep control of the conversation. "But coming back to the main reasons I am holding this group session, I was wanting you to practice clearing your mind as it is one of the first steps to practicing occulemncy, a form of magic that will prove to be very useful with not just your diagnoses, but with controlling your outbursts."

Hermione bit the inside of her lip. "What did Professor Lupin say?"

Dr. Augsen leaned forward to remove a letter from her briefcase that she always kept at her feet. She removed the parchment and handed it to Hermione, who read it with shaking hands from the anxiety she felt.

Lucius watched Hermione read the letter, paying attention to very detail as he was sure Andromeda and Narcissa were too. He could almost tell which parts of the letter she was reading as there were little changes she made every time she grew more concerned;

... _She is a very bright and knowledgeable student, but I fear that the trauma she endured had affected her greatly... _Her eye brows came together and her lips moved as she read with great fervor... _The Divination Professor informed there was scorch marks in the desk Hermione sat at when she walked out of class... _Hermione swallowed as her shakes turned into tremors... _Arms nearly engulfed in flames_... She held her breath to stop her labored breathing.

At last Hermione put the letter in front of the flowers as she stared off into the flames, lips pressed together. _Ah... So it is true._ Lucius felt like this confirmed his argument that Snape was telling the truth. It was obvious to him that Lupin had cooked up a different version of what happened that night- some lie about Hermione getting into an argument with another student. Narcissa and Andromeda insisted there was more to the story as Snape admitted he came in the middle of whatever was being talked about, but even before that, they were hesitant to believe an ex Death Eater had been over powered by three third year students. That had actually stopped Lucius from arguing further, especially when Narcissa brought up that Snape did not have the cool head he liked to pretend he had.

"Hermione," Narcissa placed a hand on her knee this time. "When we say that it's dangerous for you to loose control, we mean it. Small, tiny bursts of accidental magic have little to no affect on a witch, even when they're toddlers. However when it gets out of hand, and it becomes an often occurrence- or even one prolonged occurrence like the one Lupin had spoke of, it can damage what us healers call a magical core."

Hermione looked up at Narcissa, lines of worry etched in her young face that shouldn't be there. "What is that?"

Narcissa blinked, taking a moment to think of how to explain it non-medical terminology. "I suppose you can think of it as a secondary 'spirit' or 'soul' in a way. Except instead of it just being an ethereal version of your physical body, it houses all of your magic. It can act like your physical body where you can strengthen or weaken it with overuse. It's why wizards use wands, to help stop the over use as unconducted magic as it's too harsh on us."

Hermione nodded her understanding and took a deep breath. "I understand."

"It's also why many wizard hate muggleborns. Wizards were taught that muggleborns were unnatural and that they had stolen another wizard's magic." Hermione's hand gripped her throat in horror and Narcissa gave Lucius a severe look. He put his hands up as if he were surrendering. "I only wanted to explain why the student Lupin says he witnessed her arguing with had said what he had about her lineage. She should have an explanation." Hermione's eyes dropped to the floor and Lucius narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. "You should have told us when it happened. We would have spoken to the student's family."

Hermione didn't look up, but focused her attention to her ring by tracing the outline of it. "I didn't think of it."

Another pause. "Did you want to talk about it?" Dr. Augsen asked.

"No, ma'am. It happened a while ago and I'd rather look forward to preventing any incidents from happening again."

"I see." Dr. Augsen's quick quill had been scribbling furiously as everyone spoke and had finally turned a page. "Well despite what other people were raised to think." Dr. Augsen's tone was pointed and no one needed to know it was directed at what Lucius had said. "Nor what they say, you know yourself best. They have their opinions of you, and quite honestly those opinions don't matter."

"I know." Hermione looked up with her lips pressed together and their eyes shining. "Dad always said that the weight of someone's words depended on your own scales. It's not the first time I was discriminated against and it won't be the last, I'm sure. I was just having a bad day."

Narcissa put an arm around Hermione and pulled her in as a few tears fell down face. Dr. Augsen looked down as she sighed and Lucius looked into the logs of the fireplace. He knew she was playing along to Lupin to cover up for Sirius, but he acknowledged and respected that she knew how to face the truth about _some_ things. Lucius set his jaw and focused even more on to the fireplace as he thought about how they would would approach Hermione in the coming weeks to get the truth from her.

He was staring so hard into the fireplace that he nearly jumped when the logs completely shifted, revealing that something- or someone had been on the hearth. He looked at the women in the room to verify if someone else had saw it, but no one had as they had resumed the therapy session he was supposed to be listening to.

_No matter. I needed to speak to Draco alone anyway._

* * *

"I don't think it's wise for you to go to your parent's place of business." Hermione was near the end of her next session with Dr. Augen on July seventh- which was coincidentally the Wednesday that marked the one year of her parent's death. Dr. Augsen had came by the manor early that day as she had asked Narcissa if she could go and visit her former home, along with Granger & Granger Dentistry.

"Why not?" Hermione snapped with more venom than she intended.

"Wasn't the business left in the care of their business partner? It's bound to be busy and I think it would be better for you to mourn at their home or the cemetery-"

"They didn't even want to be buried! Fudge forced them to be put there." Hermione waved an arm as she said this. She was hardly herself, she woke up feeling everything and nothing at the same time. Hermione felt like she was preparing for the funeral again. She hated how she felt and hated how she was acting because of it, but could hardly attempt to stop herself. "They loved the business and I won't even leave flowers if that's what you want, but that business was everything to them! I should be able to go!"

Dr. Augsen gave Hermione a look so serious when she flipped her journal closed that Hermione leaned back in her chair. "I said no. You said you would be fine without me accompanying you today and I will honor that. If I thought it was in your best interest to go, I wouldn't advise against it." Dr. Augsen stood up then and started walking towards the door. "I'll see you Saturday, Hermione."

* * *

Hermione stopped and looked up at the home she had lived in for thirteen years. She thought she would be moved to tears immediately, being crushed by her feelings of being home sick, but instead she felt anxious. Anxious and the emotional void that she felt earlier with Dr. Augsen. She walked on the cement walkway to the wooden steps of the front porch. The second step creaked under her weight, then Draco's and finally, Lucius' weight. A thought in the back of her mind how much stone she would have weighed if her parents had still been raising her instead of the Malfoys. Then she wondered how much stone she would have weighed if Narcissa did not keep such a watchful eye on her. Hermione's appetite had taken a nose dive in the past few weeks and Narcissa started brewing the yellow potions again. With that in mind, Hermione then decided it better to not dwell on things that she could not change.

Hermione slid her key into the first lock, then the second. It was a series of movements her body had already found to be slightly foreign, and it added to her somber mood. She pulled the dark wood, and stained-glass door open to allow the two Malfoy men into the once warm home. She expected there to be a layer of dust coating everything until she remembered the charms placed upon the home- the stasis charm affected everything.

_"Will the charms be disturbed when we get there?"_

_"Yes," Narcissa had answered. "But the Ministry will be by after you leave to put any wards that were affected back up._"

Hermione hated that the Ministry needed to be on _her_ property again, but not as much as the fact that Narcissa had not joined them today. Narcissa informed that she needed to go to the Ministry as one of her many errands for the day.

Hermione walked over to the kitchen, making sure not to look anywhere but where she intended to go. Lucius and Draco followed and she immediately started to put a tea pot filled with water on the stove. She gestured to the small table her parents had in their kitchen area that sat beneath a window for them to sit. While they waited, she grabbed a stool hidden in one of the cabinets, placed her charmed schoolbag on the counter and started to throw food into it after checking the dates. She knew the food would still be good between the stasis charm and the preservatives put into the sugar-free treats, but she wouldn't risk giving Harry food poisoning when she knew his summers were already horrible enough as is.

Lucius opened his mouth to ask if she felt she was not being fed enough at the manor, but Draco spoke, being much more gracious in his questioning. "Why all the food?"

Hermione paused for a second, weighing what she should answer with, but decided to tell the truth. "Harry's aunt has put the house-hold on an extremely restrictive diet. I'm concerned he's not getting all of his nutrients."

There was silence and she could hear the tension build behind her, but ignored it, not caring at the moment who it was from. She assumed it was Draco, and was surprised when she heard Lucius' strained voice. "You could have asked for food to send at the manor."

She looked over her shoulder to see he looked slightly affronted, as if she was concerned he couldn't feed another mouth. Hermione felt some guilt and turned back to the cabinets, reaching for a box that made her go on her toes. "I didn't want to be more of a bother and I didn't think this food should be wasted." She was able to turn the box by catching it with the end of her middle finger, but it didn't fall. She heard someone get up from the chair behind her to help her and she leaned to one side so she could stretch to her maximum potential, determined to get the box herself. "I've got it-"

The box, however, had caught her by surprise by tipping off the shelf way easier than she expected it to, causing her to lose her balance. She wasn't able to recover her balance, but Draco caught her and she fell onto his firm chest instead of the cold kitchen tiles.

"Thanks," She said the word at the same time the water in the tea pot was hot enough to whistle, drowning out what she said. She ignored how her face flushed when she looked up to see he was the one who caught her as she pulled out two, mix-matching mugs to pour the water into after she dropped the tag-less white ambrosia tea bags in each one. She set one in front of Lucius and one in front of Draco, who had returned to his seat, before picking up her bag from the kitchen counter.

"Are you not doing to have tea?" Lucius asked, swishing the mug around. He frowned when he saw the tea bag as he was used to having the leaves filtered out before being served. He felt the need to look out the windows to make sure no one would see him drinking tea from a muggle mug, in a muggle house, that was in a tea bag that was only used by muggles.

"No. There are things I want to collect and... I think it's best I do that while you wait here." She glanced between the two Malfoys before heading out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Lucius pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time, but did not say anything. If there was one thing Hermione and Narcissa had in common, it was the fact that they were going to try to have things done their way. Usually he would be making sport of being the obstacle standing in her way, but he didn't want to cause her anymore pain. He wouldn't say he was going to bend over backwards to make her feel welcome to walk all over him for the day, but he wasn't going to make an already hard act even more hard on her.

"Perhaps I should go with her." Draco glanced up from his tea and looked into his father's near black eyes. Draco wanted to kick himself for sounding like he was asking his father for permission and stood to make his intentions clear. His legs shook as he walked, but he didn't stop until he was at the kitchen door and his father called his same.

"Draco, remember not to overwhelm her." Lucius didn't see Draco nod as he pushed the door open the door at the same time Lucius took a cautious sip of the tea.

Draco quickly caught up to Hermione, who had almost gotten to the top of the stairs. "Did you need something?"

Draco put his hands into his pockets only to remove them again. Standing on the stairs after she obviously intended to be alone for the rest of their time in the home made him self-conscious. He was worried for the first time if he had was being _too_ intrusive and would end up with her wand in his neck for it. "No. I wanted to offer you my company. I don't know if you wanted to come back up here alone."

Hermione's jaw dropped and she tried to swallowed the lump that had lodged itself in her throat on her way up the stairs. "I... I don't know if I wanted to."

"Then I can go up there with you and if you need to send me on my way after a while, I'll leave." Draco broke their eye contact as he stared off to the side. "I just know I wouldn't want to be alone." Something inside of him told him it was the right thing to say as it was the truth. He hated being alone and lately he had been concerned with how Hermione was handling everything- especially with the gala in two weeks.

Hermione turned to go up the stairs before turning around whilst shaking her head. "You don't have to do this. I can do it on my own. I'm bound to be a bloody mess and you've seen enough of that. Your parents too." She let her head hang as she picked at her nails and he was unsure if he was meant to hear her next words, but he did anyway. "I'm such a bother."

"You're stalling." He climbed the next couple of steps before pausing at the step that made him eye level to her. "You're the one who doesn't have to do this if you don't want to. You don't have to be fearless _all_ the time. Especially when hardly anyone is watching."

Hermione shook her head, looking down. "I'm not fearless. I'm scared all the time. I can count on one hand where I wasn't shaking because of how scared something made me."

His arm twitched, wanting to put it over her shoulders to let her know that he genuinely was willing to enter the bedrooms with her, but he thought of his father's warning on overwhelming her. "You have a way of showing you're _such_ scaredy cat then."

She gave a small laugh that wasn't all there. "Mom always said that was what bravery was. Being scared, but choosing to acknowledge it and do what needed to be done." She was twirling the ring that look like a fiery red sun and Draco watched her carefully, waiting for a clue on what to do next. Hermione looked up at him and watched his face carefully. Her anxiety was poking at her sides like an old croon, whispering that any second he would laugh in her face. Hermione knew Draco to be better than that, but she had a hard time forgetting, even when she had forgiven him for the few years of torment. And yet... "Can I... Can I talk about them with you?" Hermione realized then that the word she had been avoiding to use when describing the Malfoy's was 'safe.' It bothered her she had been so stubborn to accept the fact, but she could be free around them _because_ they had seen her at her worst. Even Lucius she spoke to freely when she should have been daunted at the thought of interacting with a man who hated her guts.

The question was a whisper and Draco answered by giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Always." They started to walk to her bedroom door and Draco took in the details of her childhood home. A year ago he found her humble abode to be disgusting, thinking it had muggle germs that would ail him as if it were a plague. Now though, he found that his curiosity had grown from her to things he didn't know about her- like her past. The first thing he wanted to know was who her parents were, but knew he could never ask.

She looped an arm around his bringing his attention back to her. "You can turn back, you know. I'm liable to cry." He looked at her from the corner of her eye. She had her hair pulled into a bun that had fly-aways sticking out in every direction. There were no major offending stray locks yet, but it was only a matter of time until an unyielding curl made itself known.

"We're friends, right?" She looked up at his question and nodded. Her reassurance made him feel tall, like the man his father expected him to be. "Then I'm here for you."

She gave his arm a squeeze before taking in a breath that set her aching throat on fire. It felt swollen with the tears that she would allow to fall down at once point today. '_Be strong. Be brave.'_ She imagined her mother saying to her. Hermione placed her hand on the door knob and watched her hand turn the plastic 'crystal' knob on her door. Stepping inside, she was hit with a wave of nostalgia as she crossed the room to her twin sized day bed. Hermione never had other people over so she and her parents had transformed what would have held a second bed into drawers that held her collection of her favorite books. She unzipped her bag and grabbed a few she planned on keeping at the manor to make her feel more comfortable with living there; _Through the looking Glass, _and _Grimm's Fairytales. _Classics. _Interview with a Vampire_. The only vampire book that she loved in it's entirely. _1984 _and _To Kill a Mockingbird, t_he books that taught her to have a voice. Every time she lifted a book, it felt like she was poking at a bruise- except her heart was the bruise.

She took a stack of her favorite _Sherlock Holmes _volumes before standing up and walking over to her book case on the left side of the room's door. She pulled out _Of Mice and Men_ and carefully placed it in a smaller pocket of her book bag for safe keeping. It wasn't her favorite, but one of her mother's favorites and wanted to re-read it. To her right, Draco was staring at the other side of the door's wall and could see that his mouth was hanging open at what was in front of him.

As if sensing her watery eyes on him, he turned with a thumb pointing at this part of the wall that was covered from ceiling to floor with either trophies or medals. "Hermione, what the hell is this?"

She stared at it and finally the first tear fell. "My wall of shame." She joked as she joined his side. She could feel her dam cracking, but she felt like this was a necessary cry. She told herself it was okay to mourn on the anniversary of her parents death, that it wouldn't make her weak no matter what the dark side of her wanted her to feel. "Mum was obsessed with me doing curricular activities that weren't just reading or me playing the cello. My parents were 'pushers' so if I joined something, I had to push until I was the best." She made quotation marks with her hands at the last word. "Some of my awards aren't spectacular or are multiple spoils for the same win."

Draco glanced from her, to the wall and back again. He wanted her to keep talking, too afraid of seeing her shut down again. "Tell me about them."

She took a step closer to the wall and started to point at the medals that hung higher up on the wall. "Spelling bee at county then national level. Matheletes- which is a glorified mathematics club- at county then national level. That's my Girl Scouts sash and every badge on that sash means I achieved something. Table Tennis- which is rubbish- at house level. Chess at house level. Poker at house level-"

"You joined a poker club?" If the situation wasn't so sensitive he would have tried to make a joke about how odd muggles were.

"Somewhat. It was more of a recreational group full of the neighborhood kids that held random tournaments often and poker was one of them. My parents were fond of gambling though so they were ecstatic to think I would have that same love for it." She looked up as she rubbed the tears from her face. "I just counted the cards and got lucky. The dealer was an older kid who barely memorized the rules of the game."

Draco was grinning at this. "So you cheated?"

Hermione wanted to be offended, but it was the truth. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she knew what she was doing at the time wasn't right. "I told you some of these weren't very impressive."

Draco shook his head not wanting to laugh. "No, I'm impressed. I thought you were a goody-two-shoes."

Hermione had a shiver run through her as she thought about the rage she felt with Sirius and Pettigrew, wanting to literally kill them. She had come to the terms that if she had been given the proper chance, she would have. She wasn't innocent and the jury was out on how bad she felt about that. "I try to be, but I do what I need to. I hated being there, but mum never wanted me to just stay home and she convinced dad for a long time doing all of these things would only help me."

Draco was silent for a moment digesting what she said. "I see. Then are there any achievements here you _do _like?"

She made a face at the accusing tone he adopted, but understood he meant no harm and appreciated that he wanted to keep the conversation as positive as possible. "Yes." She pointed at the wooden shelves before them that held the trophies. Every trophy had a picture frame of her receiving the award it sat next to. It was extremely neat and Draco took a quick look around her room, noting that the trophy wall was the tidiest thing in the room. Hermione wasn't a slob, but it was clear extra care was put into this corner of the room. "These," she swept an arm over the lower three shelves. "Are for playing the cello. Most are at house level, but there are a few for county. When I went to nationals, I was threatened by another player and choked in the middle of my piece. I was supposed to go back the following year, but then I got my letter to Hogwarts."

Draco looked at Hermione who had an angry expression on her face. "It still bothers you."

"Yes." Her expression turned somber and she glanced at him. "I didn't tell my parents what happened until they finally pressured me into a break down. I think... it was one of the events that had my parents change their outlook of me taking over the business..."

"Sorry?" Her voice became really low and he didn't hear anything past 'I think.'

"The player who threatened me placed third in the competition." She said, not wanting to repeat herself. "Not even runner up." She pointed at the top shelf now. "Gymnastics, dance-"

"You were a gymnast?" Draco bent over to look at the photo of a very young Hermione who must have been around four was wearing a turquoise leotard with her hands thrown in the air. There was no trophy or medal in sight though.

"Briefly. Actually the photo shouldn't be there. My coach was eager to move me up the training ladder seeing I was a quick learner and I was eager to please. I suppose she threw caution to the wind a bit because of it. One day when I was training, I can't remember what I was doing exactly, but I fell wrong on my ankle. Completely broke it and if I had hit the ground a second sooner, it would have been my neck." Her voice sounded far away as it shook and Draco looked back to see she was pinching the bridge of her nose as her tears fell. "It's actually how I ended up in all of _that,"_ Hermione pointed at the medals she first talked about. "Rubbish. Mum and dad pulled me out, saying it was too dangerous even though I wanted to go back because I enjoyed it so much. They made a deal with me that if I could perform the element perfectly after I healed, they would let me continue with it. But I..." Hermione closed her eyes, willing herself to keep talking. "I couldn't even get back up on the bar, I was so scared." She rubbed her nose on her sleeve and Draco immediately handed her a handkerchief. "But I found my love for the Cello because of it, having to stay home from six to eight weeks. My dad felt bad enough to teach me in his free time." Hermione had stopped talking to control her breathing. "Anyways, they put me in dance next, which was fine until I started to be bullied by the other girls in the class after I was being awarded solos. I said I wanted to drop it, but they- or I should say mum- argued with me on it. We had a row so bad that I... I burned all of my dance wear." She blew her nose and looked up at him then. "That was the first time I remember using magic."

Draco couldn't help, but laugh. "The first time I used magic, I changed my father's hair to a very loud purple colour. I don't remember what it was for, but I remember how furious he was."

Hermione's hand that was holding the handkerchief flew to her mouth. "Did he- how bad did he hurt you? He had to have known it was an accident."

Draco shut his mouth, his smile completely gone as he stared at Hermione in amazement, not understanding how someone could be so concerned of his safety on an event that happened over ten years ago. "He didn't hurt me then."

"Oh." She looked down at her feet before looking back at the trophy wall. "I'm done here."

He nodded and held the room's already open door wider for her to walk through. He closed the door behind him, but he couldn't stand the silence. "I should have offered my condolences sooner." Draco placed a hand on Hermione's arm so she would stop and look at him as he said words that were physically difficult to say. "I'm sorry for your loss. You had a near perfect life and while the manor is astounding, it's not-"

"It wasn't a perfect life." She interrupted softly and he winced, realizing how he may have sounded. "But, thank you. I appreciate you telling me that." She touched his arm lightly before opening the door to her parent's bedroom. He didn't follow her in at first as she had placed both hands over her mouth and nose to stop herself from having an outburst. After a minute, she laced her fingers together and rested them on top of her head. "Is... Is Lucius a drunk?"

Draco threw his guard up and narrowed his eyes at her. "No." His tone was flat as he stared at her, wondering where the question had come from.

She turned to face him hearing his voice. "I'm sorry, that was rude... I only ask because..." Her voice was raspy and he knew she was struggling to suppress everything she felt to keep talking. She approached her parents bed and felt underneath the pillows that had an embroidered 'J' on it. "When I said I wanted to drop dance, dad took my side. Mum and dad argued about that and then mum's aunt died. They weren't close, but it was the last of her family so it hit her hard. Brought her back to the days she served I guess. There was... a few days afterwards that she slipped into an awful depression where she relied on sherry to get her through the day. Really put dad in a bind having to work double shifts, it's actually how Dr. Dixon- the man who was at the attorney's office- was hired." Finding what she was looking for, she pulled it out. Draco had never seen anything like it before and it made Hermione's hand shake as she stared at the metal thing. It looked like a misshaped 'L' that had been knocked on its side. There was a part of it that was shaped like a hook on the inside curve of the 'L' shape and Hermione kept her finger behind it rather than over it. "I was about seven or eight. She was completely plastered and I don't remember what I said, but it was something about wanting to be like her. She insisted I didn't, but I had always been stubborn." Hermione eyes the metal thing with a mournful expression. "She had grabbed me, her gun," Hermione motioned with the glock she held in her hand before putting it underneath the pillow, exactly how she found it. "And dragged me in the back yard, yelling about how if I wanted to be like her, she would teach me to be like her. The neighbors complained about gun shots, called my dad to make sure he was okay, which set him in a panic as he rushed home. He found me crying as mum was trying to force me to shoot the damned thing. Dad and I stayed in a hostel for a week, but I wonder if the main reason he decided to come back and help her was because I wouldn't stop crying for her. It was all my fault, what if they got a divorce?"

Hermione hugged herself as she started to sob. Without thinking, Draco crossed the bedroom and pulled her into a hug where she buried her face into his chest as she gripped on to his back for dear life. He didn't understand half of the verbs she said or what a 'gun' was, but it sounded oddly similar to one of his last few walks he had with his father. He patted the top of her head while she cried until she quieted into hiccups. Even then he held her still and she didn't back away. She hadn't been physically comforted in so long that even though a part of her said she was weak for it, she told herself it was okay today. Hermione didn't think about how it was _Malfoy_ who was doing this for her, she thought about how it was _Draco_, her good friend- and literal- house mate.

They didn't talk for a while until he was sure she wouldn't dissolve again and the only sound she made regularly made were sniffles. "I went through something similar. I can tell you about it if it would help."

She looked up at him with red eyes and swollen lips. Her face was splotchy and wet, but he wasn't bothered by it. Their friendship had so far remained raw and unpretty after all. "Tell me."

"Father used to take me on these walks around the property. There's actually a substantial amount of trails to walk through." He didn't tell her about how his father would kill animals despite his pleas, thinking that may be a bit much at the moment. "There was one time though where he wanted me to- He wanted me to torture a toad that was by one of our ponds. He wanted me to use his wand to cast _crucio_ on it."

Hermione pulled back then to look up at him. "That's illegal- the spell itself is illegal!" She looked scandalized and he gripped her tighter, hoping he didn't make a mistake of telling her this.

"I know, but you know his past, don't you? Or at least the rumors." He raised an eyebrow and didn't lower it until she slowly nodded. _The Daily Prophet _wasn't the most reliable source, but it was the only source that mentioned the Malfoys being involved with Voldemort that she could fine. "He's... better now anyways." He didn't bother to be offended at the doubtful look she gave him because he didn't wholeheartedly believe himself. "He held me, his wand between my hands and yelled at me to do it. After he screamed at me, he cast the spell himself as he held me and the wand in place. Soon after I was screaming bloody murder, but... he didn't stop." Hermione put a hand to her mouth and he gave her an apologetic look for telling the story. "Mother came soon after. I don't know how she found us, but she did. She slapped him before picking me up and bringing me inside the house. That's the only time I ever saw her hit him."

"Draco, I'm so-"

"No. It's alright. Just don't mention it to anyone." He looked into her chocolate eyes and knew she wouldn't without her saying another word. "I've never told anyone about that before."

This time it was her turn to hug him as he held her tight. He didn't cry, but she knew that he needed the hug as much as she had. Hermione knew too well what it was like to have the feeling of ripping off an emotional bandaid and recognized it on others. "She knew about him abusing you though. Why didn't she stop it more often?"

Draco thought about this for years and already knew the answer. "When she would heal me, she would reassure me that he loved me in his own way, that he was making me strong. She would say that he was struggling with his past." He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. "When the parent that doesn't hit you, takes the side of the parent that does hit you, you just decide to go with what they're saying and adjust your life around it. Follow their rules, time how quickly you move around your home, count the steps between here and there while always making sure not even your breathing makes an audible sound."

Hermione shook her head before pulling away completely. "That's terrible. I can't imagine-"

"Don't pity me." He started to feel awkward and ashamed he had shared something like that with her. It made him feel like his father was right about him and that he deserved every blow for being vulnerable. "He's getting better." He said again and he knew he was saying it more for himself than for her at that moment.

Hermione wanted to say something, but could now see Draco putting up his occulemncy walls. They watched each other for a minute before she turned back to face the room. "I'll just grab a few things..." She murmured before walking over to her parent's desks, grabbing more pictures to keep at the manor. He watched her silently work quickly around the room, the last thing she grabbed was a periwinkle dress from her mother's closet and the two pillows on the bed. One with the embroidered 'J' and the other with an embroidered 'W.'

By the time they got down stairs, Hermione's face was mostly back to normal minus the remaining pink tint to her eyes. When they walked into the kitchen, she found that Lucius had drank both mugs of tea and was staring out of the window, watching two birds that had made a nest in a nearby bush. When Lucius turned to look at the two, he immediately noticed the wet stains on his son's chest and gave a small grunt before standing up. "The tea wasn't bad."

Hermione, who despised Lucius even more now after what she learned, didn't answer as she grabbed the mugs and proceeded to wash them after dumping out the tea bags. Using this opportunity, Lucius stepped closer to Draco. Lucius made a show of slowly drying Draco's robes as he spoke. "When we get back to the manor, I expect you to meet me in my study."

Draco had a shiver run through him and he paled. He met Lucius' eye when he answered, knowing that his father hated when he showed a complete lack of spine. "Yes, father."

When Hermione was done, she marched up to Lucius, "I have a two requests." Lucius placed his cane in front of him, resting one hand on top of the other. "I want to pick up flowers and I want to go to my parent's dentistry."

Draco and Hermione both expected Lucius to deny her out right. Both were surprised when he didn't. "I do recall your therapist forbidding you from going."

Hermione simply crossed her arms as she stared up at him. Her logical side was always surprised at the nerve she had when she spoke to him, but she refused to let people like him have power over her. "There's nothing in this world that my parent's didn't put more blood, sweat, or tears in and I have the right to honor it." Lucius pressed his lips together, not out of anger, but in thought. "I'll find a way to get there, even if I have to-"

"Even if you have to what?" Lucius was becoming tired of her threats and was becoming annoyed with her. "There's nothing stopping me from apparating us back to the manor. How would you get back here? You can't expect to _walk_ back, do you?"

"I've already come up with several different ways I could get away from the manor. All of them ranging from writing to Rita Skeeter who has made it clear a couple times that she would do anything for an exclusive interview with me to summoning the Night Bus. Of course I'd rather not disclose all of my ideas in the event I need to use them." Her curt tone was as thick as his drawl. Draco felt like he was watching a chess match and kept glancing forth between the two.

Lucius gave her another once over, recognizing the tone in her voice that her mind was set. He wasn't shocked to hear that Rita Skeeter had tried to infest his manor for an interview, but he didn't like he hadn't considered the possibility before. Again he looked at Hermione's set features. Her eyes were puffy and her eyes were surrounded by a soft rosette color instead of the usual ivory of her scleras. She was handling herself better than he- or anyone for that matter- had expected. He knew Andromeda would be upset, and Narcissa was bound to take her side, but looking at Hermione, he actually felt himself _sympathize_ with her. She wasn't ambitious like Slytherin's had the tendency to be but he recognized that she was brave- and mad enough- to get what she wanted by whatever means necessary. She would _try_ to come back to visit the business and that would cause more troube than he felt was worth.

That reasoning, coupled with the confidence that she would handle herself for what she would see was what had him escort her and Draco to a local florist in Wembley that was by her parent's dentistry. She opted to create her own arrangement and picked out the flowers she saw in her dream a few months ago while Draco and Lucius waited outside. The arrangement had the florist blink several times before he rang up her bill.

"You like flowers?" He commented as he wrapped the flowers with white tissue paper and a ribbon.

"They're alright, I suppose." He gave her a weird look and she tried to apologize. "I don't mean any offense to you-"

The muggle florist laughed, revealing he was missing a premolar. She was deeply saddened by the idea that one of her parents might have been the one to pull the tooth for him. "I mean you picked out an arrangement that I would have made for a funeral. I was wondering if you liked flowers enough to study the meaning of them." He leaned over the counter, holding the flowers in front of her while he pointed at each one. "Pink roses signify love, and appreciation. Purple Asters represent devotion and wisdom, while Yellow Chrysanthemums are for recognizing sorrow. And of course Babies Breath is for long-lasting love.

Hermione delicately took the bouquet in her hands, looking at them through new eyes. She didn't recall ever reading into flowers, and had no clue how her subconscious came up with the arrangement in the dream- but then again, she read a lot. "Thank you, Sir. I don't believe I knew that." She looked back up at the shop keeper before turning to leave. When she was nearly to the door, she was stopped.

"Wait," she turned to see him coming up to her with a medium-sized pink flower in his hand. "Peony's are for hope. I always give one to the family I make a funeral bouquet for." He gently tucked the flower's stem behind her ear. "I'm sorry for your loss."

The act, though it was a regular thing for the florist to do, still choked her up. "Thank you." He nodded and watched her join the two men dressed in black at the store front before returning to his counter.

Lucius, seeing her with the bouquet thought that he should have warned her at that moment, but instead decided to lead them down the street the where the dentist office was. Draco had been admiring the difference in architecture between the wizarding and muggle world when he noticed that Hermione was struggling to keep the pink flower in her ear. After it nearly fell for a third time he stopped her and plucked the flower from her ear.

"What are you-"

"Hold still." She went completely rigid and he couldn't help but smirk at how comical it was while he weaved the flower's stem through the front of her bun. "There. Who knew your bushy hair would be useful for holding things in place." The joke would have earned a soft punch if it was made by Harry or Ron, but she respected Draco's wishes to not be hit when she remembered it.

"Bully." She retorted, but she was able to smile for a few minutes.

"I do believe we need to get back to the manor before dinner is prepared." Lucius was standing where Granger & Granger Dentistry was. He hadn't noticed that they had fallen behind until he turned to see they were not directly behind him. Lucius was taken off guard at the friendly gesture Draco had made with Hermione, but knew it was something that would have made Narcissa proud so he didn't comment on it- not matter how much Abraxas' voice taunted him in his head. Again he thought that he should at least warn Hermione, but decided it was too late. Any second she would see what became of her parent's place of business so there was no point as far as he was concerned.

Hermione started walking to Lucius' side and had glanced around the street to make sure they were in the right place. There were no lights in front of the building that Lucius stood in front of and she quickened her pace into a jog so she could get a better look. When she finally allowed herself to process what was in front of her, she dropped the flowers where they hit the floor before anyone could catch it.

'Granger & Granger Dentistry' had been peeled off of the white cloth store sign leaving an extra bright white imprint where the words were, protecting the bloth beneath it from the weather. That was all she could see of the actual building though since there was a wooden gate that had a huge sign on it: **Central Dental Care - COMING SOON! **No one said anything for a long time. Draco was waiting for Hermione to start crying again, often casting nervous glances at his father who refused to look at him. Lucius was watching Hermione, wondering if she would going to set the place on fire or go into hysterics. Both seemed equally likely.

Hermione was the one who broke the silence after she got over her shock. She was beyond tears at this point and she was too overly stimulated to even process the rage she felt inside. "He sold it." No one answered her and she rounded on Lucius. "_The bastard sold it to them_!" She pointed at the sign in front of her. Central Dental Care was a chain owned by two brothers, Hermione was familiar with their company as her mother often went into rants every time they were brought up. Several times they made offers to her parents, but sometimes they sounded like threats. "_He knew and he still sold it to them_!" Lucius was unsure if he should correct her for her language, point out she was so upset she was speaking in French or stay silent to watch what she intended on doing. Then the glint in her eyes went from fire to daggers. "_You knew didn't you?_"

He raised an eyebrow and gripped the end of his cane to draw his wand if she planned on attacking him. "I did."

She started breathing heavily from through her mouth. "Then that means Dr. Augsen knew." Hermione turned back to the building and crossed her arms, trying to physically stop herself from tearing down the boards in front of her. "Of course she did." Angry tears spilled from her eyes, but as soon as they came they stopped. "I'm ready to go home now."

Draco had picked up the flowers from where she dropped them and was unsure of what to do with them. His father nor Hermione seemed to make note of it though as they prepared to side apparate. Draco grabbed his father's other arm and hugged the flowers as close as he could to his body without crushing them.

When they appeared in front of Malfoy Manor, Hermione quickly walked ahead of them to return back to her suite. Lucius finally acknowledged that his son was still holding the flowers. "Your mother won't be too pleased to have genuine flowers in the house. Dispose of them quickly."

"Yes, father."

Lucius walked ahead of Draco, not once thinking about how Hermione's rebelliousness might have been rubbing off on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ahhh, with this chapter I now feel like third year is officially done and over with. I hope everyone is doing okay with COVID terrorizing the earth. Remember to stay safe!


	26. The Greenhouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!! I hope things are improving in your communities!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Lucius sighed, looking up from the journal he had been documenting his life in and looked at Narcissa. She was sitting on the other side of his study's desk, glaring at him until he acknowledged that she was wanting to talk to him. When Hermione got home from their outing, he did not bother trying to explain himself and gave Narcissa a few days to come to him. "Why don't you trust me?"

"I trust you, I'm just upset with you. She doesn't want to see Andromeda anymore, and she helped Hermione a lot! I don't want to force Hermione to continue her sessions, but I don't want her to get worse again."

Lucius closed his journal, giving Narcissa his full, undivided attention. "Andromeda wasn't the only thing helping her. She's grown and I felt like she could handle the truth now, rather than wait and let it be worse later. She would resent everyone but Draco, when you and Andromeda saw it fit to finally tell her about the dietitian office." He rattled off his reasoning in a neutral tone. He had became stressed with the upcoming gala, as true to Narcissa's word, people started canceling their services, which left him low on energy.

"_Dentist _office." Narcissa threw her hands up, but let them fall again. She was completely exasperated with him, not for him messing up the name of the late Granger's careers, but for knowing that Lucius had a point with Hermione being resentful.

"I wouldn't have done it if I felt she couldn't handle it." That got him a scathing look from Narcissa, but she remained quiet- a silent request for him to elaborate his point. "You and I both read people, Cissy. We read them in different ways of course, but I regularly practice picking out one's strength and weaknesses. In business, I use it against my partners leaving them with nothing to use against _me_ in the event things do not work out." Lucius rested his chin on the hand that was holding the white peacock quill. "Visiting the house and the business is providing her with a bit of closure that she will need to finish dealing with on her own. She's bull headed, and needs to go for the kill in one shot- in a manner of speaking," Lucius added when Narcissa gave him a astonished look at his phrasing. "But she'll only do it after she's done her research and feels ready." _Or her hand is forced_ he thought to himself as Severus' face flashed in his mind, but didn't mention it as Narcissa was not going to budge on her stance. Like Hermione, Lucius preferred to handle things in one go himself, but was experienced enough to know that things did not often work out that way. "Did I tell you that she nearly threatened me again? Her mind was made up to go. She handled it well enough. She was more upset at the muggle who sold it than anything else."

"That doesn't mean that was what was best for her." Narcissa took a deep breath, but said nothing more. Lucius knew that he had one his wife over temporarily, but did not gloat as he opened up his journal again. He recognized that she was stressed about Hermione, but was in fact trusting him to possible be right about the muggleborn's behavior. "Why do you think Fudge did it? Obliviate her I mean?"

Lucius stopped writing again. "Something personal had to have happened. There's no reason for a Minister to have gotten involved with an international murder case all because one of his citizens was involved. Not to mention he doesn't have a spine- I'd be surprised if he did the charm himself." Lucius had said this all in a matter of fact tone before continuing his writing. It was a conclusion he had decided on long ago and knew that there wasn't anything they could do for Hermione's memories that wouldn't be pleasant. While the spell wasn't strong enough to do permanent damage, like give Hermione short-term memory loss, Andromeda said that it was still too strong for even _her_ to undo it safely. "How has everything been at the Ministry?"

Narcissa took a deep breath before her hands went into fists. "Well enough. Fudge has started to talk about the gala without me having to bring it up so I have no doubts he holds a big enough grudge to get in the way of a good time. However, he insists on bringing that cow Rita Skeeter."

Lucius made a sound somewhere between a curse and a grunt. "I'll have to tend to the wards then. I don't want her to crawl into any places she shouldn't be."

"And," Narcissa stood up and crossed to Lucius' side of the desk, leaning against the drawers in his dark desk. "He has another request."

Lucius leaned back into his chair and looked at his wife. He knew whatever she had to say wasn't horrific, or else she would have started the conversation with it, but her change in stance meant he wouldn't be pleased about it regardless. "What is it?"

"I've already contacted the designer. He has to come by to get Hermione's and Draco's measurements anyways."

Lucius smiled when he got what Narcissa meant, he was in such disbelief. "He said _I_ needed to change my costume?" Lucius could laugh if he wasn't annoyed with how short notice it was.

"He said he would make a better Zeus." Narcissa pursed her lips, thinking back to the conversation. 'Hate' was too kind of a word to describe what she felt for Fudge.

"How petty. To tell the _host_ he needs to change _his_ outfit and to have the _hostess_ be the one to say something." Lucius narrowed his eyes bitterly. "And Skeeter is supposed to make a better Hera than you?" He scoffed. Narcissa was more than just his queen for one night and every day he lived he made sure of it as she had always done for him.

Narcissa gave him a humorless smile. "Oh no, he said that I don't need to change."

Lucius threw his quill down at that and it snapped from how the ends of the feathers weighed it down on one end. "So rumors can start that he also has you for a mistress? Absolutely not-"

"Which is why I paid the designer to clear his schedule for the next few days so he can redesign both of our costumes." Narcissa tucked a piece of hair behind Lucius' ear. "Although we could have just kept the same outfits and add different accessories or-"

Lucius put a hand on his wife's lap, completely thankful to have her around. "What good is money if we can't spend it? And you'll send Senor Siriano into an early grave if he hears you think you can just change the smallest things on anything he has put together to give it a new name." Narcissa laughed and placed a warm hand on to the hand Lucius had on her thigh. He brought her hand up to his lips and gave it a peck before resting his cheek on to it. "I wish I could just kill him."

Narcissa rubbed her thumb that was against his jawline. "I know, but we'll never get away with it. Not in the near future anyway."

"Not in the near future." He echoed. When he spoke again, his voice was filled with an old venom that she hardly heard in his voice anymore. "But in the mean time I'll make him pay for the derisive, impertinent behavior he's shown to all of us."

Narcissa smiled like a school girl being asked on a date by her school crush. The grin was accompanied by a fluttering in her chest, knowing that Lucius had included Fudge's offenses against Hermione into his vow.

Narcissa couldn't of imagined ever marrying anyone else.

* * *

Hermione walked from her suite, to Draco's bedroom on the following Saturday. She had been avoiding seeing everyone outside of meal times as much as she could since she found out that Dr. Dixon had sold the dentistry. She thought back to the times she and her parents had spent with Dr. Dixon; Hermione would run tiny errands around the office for them during the school holidays when she did not have a babysitter. She thought of the times he had come over for dinner several times each month, and when they went to sporting events together. He had even been to several of her concerts and performances! Not once did Hermione think to become suspicious or question his understanding of the business.

Because of this, Hermione had holed herself in her room with the emotions that felt as if they would crush her petite body if she tried to move. While she was cross with Dr. Augsen for trying to hide the truth from her, she had started to take the therapist's suggestion even more seriously and practice clearing her mind. Something she could successfully manage only when playing her cello.

Hermione rapped her knuckles on Draco's door once, twice, then waited. She heard Draco's owl hoot, but didn't hear any other sounds. "Draco? Are you in there?" When she got no response, she gently cracked open the door and peeked inside, listening for the sound of water running to indicate if he was in the bathroom or not. Still not hearing anything, Hermione decided to do the rude thing and step inside. She walked to the bathroom but the light was off and the door was wide open with no one inside.

She looked around the room, nothing appeared to be different from the last time she was there except from the books by his bedside. Biting her lip, she glanced at the open door to his bedroom before tip toeing and reading the spine off of the titles. _The_ _Triwizard Tournaments - Was it Worth it?_, _Flying with the Canons, _and _Potion's Making - Grade four. _Hermione's nose crinkled at the selection, but smiled that he seemed to take his studies seriously when compared to Harry and Ron. Hermione had almost finished reading the last book in the Malfoy library that had referenced ghosts. There were only two books and she came to the conclusion that if her parents were able to turn into ghosts, they would have returned already. It hurt to have her hope die by it helped he become more at ease. Hermione picked up the Triwizard tournament book as she was intrigued by a piece of history she hadn't heard of yet. She flipped it open to where Draco had placed a piece of parchment as a bookmark in the text. She tried not to look at it, but she caught Pansy's signature at the bottom. How Draco was to Ron was Pansy to Hermione. Hermione tried not to hate any of her follow students, but Pansy was the only one who made that hard. Once she caught sight of the signature, she didn't bother to continue to be polite.

Hermione couldn't even get halfway through it before stopping from how annoyed she grew. She felt like she could hear Pansy's wining and couldn't bear to finish. _So what_ if Pansy wasn't allowed to pick who she wanted to dress up as for the gala. _So what_ if she couldn't match whatever Draco said he would be. Hermione herself ended up picking the first thing that came to mind when Narcissa asked as she received the letter on one of her 'bad' days. Persephone had been chittering by her side when Hermione received the letter and it back with the owl's name. Dr. Augsen had been concerned about the choice, as Persephone had a reputation for being one of the more feared goddesses but Hermione pointed out that Kore was innocent in comparison to most of the Gods in Greek mythology.

Hermione flipped to the front of the book to find out _what _the Triwizard tournament was. She was roughly three pages in, forgetting that she was not in her own room when she was interrupted by an agitated Draco.

"What are you doing with my things?"

Hermione looked up to see him striding over to where sat on the end of his bed. "I was-" He snatched the book out of her hands and she pulled her hands back. "I came to look for you and didn't see you. I-"

"Well, I wasn't in a book!" Draco put the book on top of the rest of the ones he had on his bed side table. He had already been irate when he found the 'note' that Blaise had left in his coin purse and had sent a reply on what he would do to the Italian when he arrived for the gala. Finding Hermione with the one book that had another letter he had in it, had caused him to grow even more upset.

Her mouth gaped open like a fish before she decided to shut it and stood. "Nothing." She fled the room instead of arguing back. Hermione knew she may have been rude, but hardly thought she deserved to be yelled at the way she had.

Draco sat on his bed and picked up the Triwizard Tournament book wanting to pick up where he left off. Immediately, he eyed the letter Pansy sent and studied it before putting it back in his book, deeming Hermione hadn't seen it. The letter meant nothing to him of course, it just happened to be the first thing he had around him without getting up to get a legitimate bookmark.

Draco sighed knowing he needed to apologize to Hermione for over reacting. It wasn't _her_ who put the letter with his galleons and she wasn't looking through his things like he initially thought. Draco walked to his door and back again several times. He would start walking to the door, fully intending to face her and apologize, but would get cold feet and turn around when a doubt convinced him to recede back into his room. It was an argument he knew would never end until he made amends so after building enough frustration at his lack of action, he made it out of his bedroom and into the hallway.

Even as he walked, doubts still teased him about what he was facing. _She'll be mad._ I would be, too. _She may just yell at you instead. _Reckon, that'd be fair though. His thoughts continued in that fashion until he was outside of her suite. Draco reached to turn the knob, but stopped himself, thinking that would for sure have her scold him. He knocked, but heard nothing. He then turned the door knob and could hear the muffled sound of the cello coming from her room and he knew that Hermione had not heard him knock.

He found himself in the same position he had been in over the last few days. Draco had wanted to approach her, show her what he did with the flowers and ask her to spend the days with him as he had already grown bored since coming back from Hogwarts, but the sound of a solemn cello had always stopped him cold in his tracks. Not only was he bored, but he partially wanted to try and one up Harry and Ron with the flowers and hardly thought interrupting her was appropriate to validate his ego. He decided that if Hermione wanted to be bothered, she wouldn't of had been a recluse in her own room.

_Which was probably why she was in my room_. He thought glumly. At the thought, he plucked up the courage to knock. He raised his arm to the door, but before he could make a sound, there was a faint snapping sound and Hermione exclaiming in pain. "Ow!" Draco opened the door to see Hermione gripping the instrument's bow in one hand while her other hand was in a fist that was starting to drip blood. "Oh, bugger!"

"Are you all right?" Draco opened the door wide and took a step inside. He was automatically greeted by a glare, which he returned with a guilty look. He was genuinely sorry for acting how he did, even if somewhat justified, but made sure he turned his charm on when looking guilty so Hermione wouldn't be inclined to be terribly harsh on him. Draco knew confrontation was inevitable, but he hated dealing with negative consequences even more.

Hermione decided to ignore his question. "I'll have you know _I_ had the decency to knock before going in your room." She placed the bow on to her desk to use her free hand so she could pick up the cello and place it on the bed. She got up and entered her bathroom to run water over her wounded hand. Draco took a few steps forward to follow her and glanced at the cello on the bed. One string had snapped while she was playing, making it clear why she had blood all over her hand. The metal would have sliced through butter like a hot knife with the force it had behind it. She had just placed a towel after running cold water over her fingers when he stopped in the doorway. "What do you want?"

He placed a hand on on the door frame and drummed it nervously considering his word choice. "I wanted to show you something."

She looked up at him before removing the hand towel to show that the blood flow was not slowing. She wanted to scream in her frustration, but screaming would not stop the bleeding and only make her look completely barmy. "You don't get to yell at me, barge into my room then act like nothing happened. I know you won't apologize so the least you can do for me right now is to just leave me alone."

Draco had let her have the first few jabs at him for free, but refused to tolerate it any longer as his agitation came back. "And you don't get the right to go into my room when you knew I was not in there and look through my things." He said this as he slowly approached her, giving a hard stare that had her look back down at her hand. "Let me see." His voice dropped his cold tone, but was still demanding.

"No, I just need to keep pressure on it."

"Hermione, for once don't be stubborn." He grabbed her wrist in a firm, but gentle way so he would not hurt her further and pulled the towel from her grip. Careful not to touch her blood- _blood_, not mud like he had imagined in his younger years- on the towel, he used the clean parts of it to straighten her wounded fingers. The laceration was as deep as he thought it would be across three of her fingers. "I'll be back, run cold water on it."

He walked away, not bothering to see if she would listen to his instruction. He walked back to his own room and retrieved his homemade first aid kit to bring back to her bathroom. When he got back, his anger started to dim when he saw she had her hand under the cold water. He grabbed a clean hand towel and shut off her water supply after opening up the kit. Inside he had everything he needed to fix up the wounds Lucius would leave on him or Crewe.

Bringing her hand closer to him, Draco could see _some_ of the bleeding had stemmed, but he knew he needed work fast to prevent a mess. He quickly applied the sanitizer over the wound with a square pad. Hermione didn't show any signs it stung like he expected her to and quickly applied the healing gel for open wounds before he wrapped the padded gauze around the lower parts of her fingers.

Hermione watched his concentrated face closely as he worked, once again being reminded how short she was. As Draco took care of her, she felt her anger give way to another set of emotions. She was amazed by how precise he was while remaining tender and efficient, but instead she was watching his face. His eyebrows were slightly pulled together to create several tiny creases between them, she was able to see the streaks of green in his eyes again but the shadow that crossed his face was too dark for her to see the blue. His features are as sharp as they were in first year, but he seemed to be growing into them. The high cheekbones no longer looked feminine like they were still on a prepubescent boy, and his chin no longer awkwardly jutted forward. Instead, she was reminded of a model in one of the dentist ads at her parents office; his skin was perfect, eyelashes were so long that she knew Parvati would throw a fit over them and his sharp features, from his nose to his jawline, belonged on a Greek statue. "Is that too tight? Flex your fingers a little."

Hermione blinked several times at where her thought process had gone and suddenly felt too close to Draco. She wiggled the her fingers to test that the gauze would not restrict her blood flow. She made a tiny noise in the back of her throat at the pain of the cuts, but her fingers were comfortable otherwise. "It's fine." The pain brought her from the thoughts of his looks to how he kept helping her and she suddenly felt helpless.

He secured the double sided spello tape to the last bit of gauze he wrapped around her wrist. "There." Satisfied, he looked from her hand to her face. Hermione's jaw was clenched and she looked like she was fighting off tears. He was confused and grabbed her wrist, preparing to rip of the tape he had just secured. "You said it wasn't tight."

She withdrew her hand from his grasp before he could undo what he had done. "It's not my hand... I feel like I can hardly take care of myself. You keep taking care of me- saved my life even. And I-" Her voice warbled and she stopped speaking so she wouldn't cry. "I just feel dependent and incapable-."

She looked miserable and the last thing Draco wanted her to do at that moment was cry. "Hermione Granger is a lot of things, but she is not incapable." Draco made a show of stepping back and putting a hand on his chin. He slowly walked around her as if he was appraising a race horse. "No, no, a little worse for wear, but very much capable to live up to her name."

Hermione smiled and shook her head, not being able to resist his attempts at lightening up the mood. "Have you always been this much of a goof?" Her stomach turned as she still felt fragile, but she followed his lead on distracting her.

"Only when someone's in need of a laugh." He placed his hands on his hips as he gave her a cheeky grin. Draco chose not to point out that _he _was the one who often needed a laugh and gave her a wink.

"Ah," Hermione gave him a knowing look as she placed her hands on her hips, mocking his playful air. "So you're Salazar Slytherin's village idiot. I've been mistaken then." She waved a hand as if to dismiss him and exited the bathroom, walking back to her bed.

"Oh, you don't want to know where I stand in my house- Reckon it'll give you nightmares." With several long strides he was by her side again, where he gave her a playful poke in her back before they both looked down at the cello.

Hermione ran her fingers over the now empty space where the D string was. She looked at the time and saw that Dr. Augsen would have been arriving by now, if Hermione hadn't asked Narcissa to cancel the appointment. Narcissa wasn't happy about it, but obliged. "What was the thing you wanted to show me?"

"You're not going to restring it now?" Draco himself was the type of person to tie up loose ends as soon as possible if he could help it. Something that both his mother and father made sure was drilled into him. "Can't be terribly hard. Have you ever restrung a piano?" Draco slipped back into his opinionated attitude he often reserved for Hogwarts.

Hermione, whose reaction was to go on the defensive, placed her hands on her hips. "Have you?"

He looked back at her when he heard her waspish tone and sneered. "Relax, I didn't mean anything by it."

Hermione didn't miss he hadn't answered her question, but decided not to press him on it to keep things between them peaceful. "It's not hard, but it's annoying. It'd be best if I waited till I healed- I'm bound to be even more frustrated if I tried to do it now." She picked up the cello and walked into her closet where she placed the cello in its case.

Draco waited for her to come back before speaking again. "It's out in the garden. You'll probably want to change out of your night gown."

Hermione looked down at her pink nightdress. "Right." Narcissa had taken the liberty over the school year it seemed to add to Hermione's closet. Her closet was now filled with dresses, skirts and blouses on one side that all looked more than worth its weight in galleons. Hermione was hesitant to wear anything that she had not owned previously, but when she tried to wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that Narcissa relocated to the opposite end of the closet, she found them to be too small. It struck Hermione as odd as the muggle clothes she brought to Hogwarts still fit her- albeit slightly tighter than it had in the beginning of the academic year. "Will we have to go through the maze by any chance? That's actually why I was looking for you earlier, I was hoping you could teach me how to get through it."

Draco gave her a small smirk. "You really need to get out of the house more, Hermy."

Draco barely had time to duck and run out of the room as she immediately sent an unlaced trainer flying at him. "Village idiot!" She could hear him laughing in the suite and she couldn't help but join in herself.

* * *

Hermione could see why Draco had said she needed to get out of the manor more as soon as she stepped outside. Her mouth dropped as she looked around the inner garden that had formerly been sectioned off from the outer garden by the maze. "What happened to the maze? And the creatures?"

Draco pointed to the hedges bordering the new path connecting the two gardens. "They're behind the horticulture. The maze was split in half so there are creatures on each side to make a proper path to the outer gardens. It took mother and father an entire week to rearrange everything."

Hermione continued to look horrified as she walked forward to check the hedges for any sign of what Draco was saying. As with any magic that was done properly, there wasn't even a shimmer of a glamour. "Do the creatures still have enough space at least?"

"Yes. Father and Crewe are still tending to their needs, even more so that some of them are sentient enough to be stressed about the move- even if they can't tell the difference on the inside." Draco felt his stomach flip that Hermione seemed to care about animals and creatures almost as much as he did.

Hermione bit her lip before lightly touching the foliage in front of her. "You've already asked these questions then?"

Draco thought back to his talk with Lucius in his study a few nights ago. It was odd to be in his father's study and not have a finger laid on him. He only considered himself that lucky a handful of times and the context of the conversation this last visit had made the event even more strange. If Draco was not so intact with the wards that he could identify the different magical signatures of the manor's residents, he would have thought his father had been polyjuiced. "Yes." He joined her side looking at the edge of the hedge. Draco knew he couldn't see inside due to the magic being too thick for anyone to see through. Even if someone were to stick their hands a few inches into the foliage they would meet a magical barrier that probably had a hex ready for any intruder- or escapee- who didn't immediately pull away. "When I become the head of the house and everything is officially under my name, I'll free them all. They don't deserve to be away from their homes. I imagine it'll take some time as some creatures won't know how to survive in the wild anymore, but it'd be worth it." It was the first time he admitted this to anyone, so he had been looking at the greenery, and assumed Hermione had been doing the same. He was surprised to see her looking up at him with a look of wonder on her face. "What?"

She blinked several times and gave a shy smile. Hermione thought about what to say before deciding to be honest about what was on her mind. "I never guessed you had this side to you is all. I'm happy we're friends. Grateful, even." Draco felt a smile grow across his face without him even trying. Hermione found the smile to be endearing and immediately flushed, appalled to think such a thing. She walked towards where the fruit trees were with her hands on her face, to try and hide her blush from him.

He jogged to her side, but she refused to look at him and draw more attention to her face. "Excuse me, but did the Gryffindor Princess just say that I was worthy to be in her presence?"

Hermione gave a sly smile as she looked at him from the corner of her eye, slightly withdrawing her hands. "Don't let it go to your head. There's not many people I can rename as village idiot if we become too good of friends."

Draco dramatically put both hands to his chest. "I'm hurt you think so low of me, your majesty."

She turned to look at him head on, removing her hands entirely as she grinned at his antics. "I never said that, now." They reached the end of the maze and were in the outer gardens. To her left she could see the stone walls of the owlery, and the area in front of them resembled a large prairie where the grass hardly reached the tops of her trainers. She briefly remembered hearing Lucius mention during one of their dinners that the gala would be hosted outside and wondered if the Weasleys had changed their minds about coming. "Where is this thing you wanted to show me?"

"This way." He started walking off to the right and she followed. The grass grew taller as they passed the trees that circled the opening, but only by a few inches. They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached three greenhouses. Each one as identical as the next, all as big as the Hogwarts ones that were made to house twenty students. "What have you been doing to your hair?"

Hermione touched both hands gingerly to the top of her head. It didn't feel as frizzy as usual, but she wanted to make sure she wasn't putting the extra effort into her hair if she didn't need to. "I asked Narcissa for help with my hair and she gave me a new shampoo and conditioner. I suppose it would make sense that wizards should use products made for wizard hair." Narcissa also provided potions to add to her hair, but Hermione was to hesitant to try any of them out yet, her hair already feeling a tad heavier underneath the new concoctions. "I'm not sure if it's working."

Draco glanced back at her before opening the door to the first greenhouse. "It is."

When the door was fully opened, they were completely hit with the humid air laced thick with the earthy smells of the plants inside. Hermione quickly shuffled in and started looking at the shelves of plants. There were all kinds in front of her; _Dittany, Jumping Beans, __Mimbulus Mimbletonia, __Moly _and the shelf went on. Hermione crossed the room to the other wall, where there were 20 gallon tanks stacked from floor to ceiling that were growing aquaphilic plants. There was parchment in the top left corner of each tank labeling what was inside. Hermione briefly read off the first tank's list as she approached it... _Filamentous Algae_, _Curly Pondweed_, _Gillyweed _and _Hydrilla._

Hermione had never given a second thought to how much money the Malfoy's had other than when Draco had shown her the library, but she was fully processing what '_wealthy' _and _'Top Ten Percent of Wizard families in the World_' meant_. "_This is insane. Was this also something Narcissa added?"

Draco, who had been watching her between the vines of a _Peperomia Hope _plant hanging from the ceiling. He parted the vines with one hand as he spoke. "She did. Too much of a bother to go out and-" _mingle with the riff-raff._ He remembered his mother stating when he asked about the greenhouses himself as a child. He caught himself, knowing Hermione wouldn't of had liked that and had let the vines fall back into place. "Go to the apothecary every time she needed something. Mother happens to like potions a lot and goes through quite a few ingredients in a month's time." He amended before continuing. "And a few cauldrons." Draco thought back to two summers ago where Narcissa had been brewing a particularly nasty potion but the cauldron bottom seemed to melt away due to the potion and the heat. She was livid and a week later, Lucius had found a way to cut off the companies main material supplies until the CEO personally came by the manor to give a proper apology, along with a few of their best, wand-made cauldrons.

Hermione accepted the answer, nodding at the tables, tanks and shelves in front of her. "Your favorite subject is potions too, isn't it?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, but in a playful manner. He started to make his way towards the back of the green house on the side they entered in from and she followed on the opposite side. "What makes you think that?" He was excited to hear how her thought process worked as he had always seemed to take a unique point of view when tackling tasks at Hogwarts. He listened with his head low as he walked, keeping his face neutral as to not react to her observations.

"You're much more disruptive in potions than in any other class which means you don't need to focus as hard. Of course this could be attributed to Snape being your Head of House so naturally he would favor the Slytherin's over anyone else." She paused to see if he would say anything to confirm or deny the thought, but he remained silent so she continued. "But I personally think he takes the subject too seriously to allow anyone to slide, so you must do well with it. Then there's the fact that I've noticed you've had two different potions books at your bed side table now. Narcissa's interest in potions could have definitely helped grow your own interest, too, as my father did with music." They had reached the back of the greenhouse and she looked like she had something else to say but didn't want to say it.

Draco, who was in slight wonderment already, encouraged her. "Go on, I want to hear it all." Hermione glanced at him then looked away, raising her bandaged hand to run over her hair.

"We can't do magic with our wands until we turn seventeen, and there are a lot of healing salves and balms you can make from brewing- which you had in your first aid kit."

Draco tilted his chin up, understanding why she had been hesitant to say anything. It was always a rough subject to even think about, but he didn't get upset she brought up his abuse since he asked her to explain her thoughts. "Well, you're right. About all of it. How do you do that?" He stopped in front of a table that had several pint sized pots of dirt in it that had a plastic cover over them.

Hermione bashfully shrugged one shoulder. "I just pay attention. It also helps not to be a social butterfly like _some people_," she bumped her shoulder into his lightly, testing the waters on how far she could tease. "You see a lot more things that way." _Or when you're forgotten about_. Hermione didn't say when she thought about Harry and Ron. It was then that she realized she may have started to fancy Ron as more of a friend after she recovered second year, but that was quickly changed with his actions over Christmas break.

An odd thought had hit him then and it made Draco's hands shake as he was thinking something that his father would beat him bloody for. _Why hate muggleborns if they're just like us? And we like them?_ The thought had him throw up more occulemncy walls as he looked her over. _They dress differently_, he thought as he eyed an outfit he had seen her wear in the halls of Hogwarts. _They use different devices and weapons_, he thought about the gun Hermione had shown him. _But... They're sentient, intelligent, and I have yet to meet a more capable witch my age._

"Draco?" Hermione snapped her fingers several times in front of his face seeing the dark look consume his features. He jumped back and her bemused look faded seeing his reaction. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just thought of something I need to address later." It was a lie, but he picked up the first pot and held it between them to his shaking along with change the subject. "I have decided to try and add to mum's flower field." He held the pot out to Hermione who took it and brought it close to her face. She thought she could make out what it was but it was hard to tell.

"Is it a stem? I don't see a bud or anything." She looked at Draco to see him pick up another pot and hold it out to her where she saw the same thing.

"They are." He took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn't be mad at what he did. "You left the bouquet on the floor in Muggle London. I thought that I could try to have the flowers regrow their roots. I know the rose," He nodded his chin towards the pot she was holding, which had the largest stem in it. "Should do just fine as they're known to for it. I'm not so sure about the other flowers, although I'm sure a potion could help..." Draco let his voice trial off as she stared at him in shock. The silence caused him to panic and he placed the pot he was holding back on the table. "The idea was to section off a part of the garden to plant them in memory of your parents so you had something here to remember them with." Hermione hastily put down the pot and hugged Draco so hard from the side that his ribs hurt. "So you don't hate it?" He managed to ask though the tight grip.

"Hate it?" She stepped back and wiped the few tears that escaped from being so touched by his gesture. "The only thing I hate was that you were a total arse before when you're actually one of the most kind hearted people I've ever met. I can't believe you thought to do this." She placed a hand over her heart, trying to stop it from beating so wildly.

"I'm not a nice person." He straightened as he thought of the students at Hogwarts he was not sorry for bullying. "I just choose to be nice to you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and started ticking off her finger with every name she said. "And Blaise, and Theo, and Pansy-"

Draco made an unintelligent noise at the mention of Pansy. "Not Pansy. Put that finger back down." He waved a hand at hers. "She's much too annoying and the reason why Buckbeak was on trail."

Hermione gave Draco a look of disbelief. "Not Pansy? You're always with her."

"No, _she's_ always with _me._" Draco shook his head and almost explained how most purebloods, like the Parkinsons, tried to force their children into marriage at a young age. Pansy happened to be one of the few families that Draco did not have a direct familial relationship to, and was still within the sacred twenty-eight. When she found this out, Pansy made it a personal mission to try and get Draco to fall for her, with her parents encouraging her with every attempt. Draco was grateful that Narcissa and Lucus did not put the same pressure on him as they trusted that he would never marry anyone who they found to be less than worthy of the Malfoy name- although they still had him study the family tree. "I'm just as bad to her as I am to Potty and Weasel."

Hermione crossed her arms as her eyebrows came together at the mention of her other friends. "I don't like it when you call them that."

Draco gave her a once over, and looked away. He didn't want to start an argument, but his pride told him not to back down, so he compromised: "Tell me, what do they call me when I'm not around? It must be worse than what they say to my face and I imagine you don't try to correct them either." Draco didn't look at her still, but he felt her release a deep breath.

Hermione knew he was right. As much as he wanted to argue, she couldn't so she clenched her jaw thinking about how to change the subject. She thought of Pansy's letter again, wondering why he kept it if Pansy really meant nothing to him. She watched him look at his nails for dirt as he continued to avoid eye contact with her. She finally decided after a couple of breaths to skirt around what she wanted to ask, without having to admit she had partially read the letter. "So what God are you going to dress up as?"

Draco looked up at her then, silently relieved that she didn't try to defend Harry and Ron. "Same one I named my owl after." He sounded bored with the idea of the gala and Hermione thought it made sense. While the Malfoy's may not have thrown many themselves, they were bound to be invited to many with they fact they were the muggle _and_ wizard definition of upper-class. "You?"

"Same actually." Hermione straightened out the flower pots as they were crooked instead of in a perfect line like he had it before. "Well, what's your owl's name? You never told me."

Draco smiled mischievously. "Is that so?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, not trusting a smile she recognized too well. "I reckon I would have remembered it if I did. I know which ones are Zeus, Posideon, and Hera. Oh, and the scops owl is Hermes, but I don't know what yours is named."

"Oh, well, I guess you'll have to find out at the gala." He started to laugh when he say her face.

"That's not fair, I told you mine!" Hermione stomped her foot which made Draco laugh even harder.

"And?"

"You're being a git." Hermione huffed, and made her way back towards the exit.

"Aw, don't be like that!" He laughed as he followed. "Don't leave!"

"I have to." She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder, a mischievous smirk of her own gracing her lips. "Your parents will tell me if I ask nice enough, I'm sure."

Draco wasn't expecting that and broke into a run after her while trying to be careful not to hit anything. She shrieked and took off, nearly halfway to the maze by the time he was able to close and secure the door of the greenhouse.

_Malfoy men don't chase after anyone or anything, Draco._

Draco barely hesitated as he took off after her again at full speed. _Oh, shut up old man._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is curious about how to re-root roses, just google "How to re-root Roses." It's surprisingly an easy process??? With the right products anyway...


	27. Of Mice and Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T/W: Child abuse mention, Miscarriage mention.
> 
> I just wanted to take the time to give a general thank you to each and everyone of my readers. I appreciate y'all so much.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"_Have a seat, Draco."_

_Draco forcefully willed his knees not to give out before they reached one of the chairs in front of Lucius' large, timber desk. Draco had just run up the stairs and into his room to hide the flowers before returning to the first floor to meet with his father. He breathed deeply to catch his breath and used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat that perspired on his face._

_"The first thing I will say to you, is to stop listening in on Hermione's therapy sessions." Lucius said this as he was taking his gloves off, and did not see Draco collapse into the seat in front of the desk. _How did he know? _"I know I've always said knowledge is power, but Hermione is not a threat so there is no need for you to sneak around and collect information about her. The second thing I wanted to talk to you about is your relationship with her." Lucius watched his son very closely before continuing. "Would you say the two of you are friends?" Draco tried to swallow before speaking, but his mouth was parched. _If I say yes, will I be harmed for being so weak of a Malfoy that I keep friends? Or is this something he is wanting like mum is? _Lucius noticed Draco's lack of speech and took out a scotch glass before putting the tip of his want to the end of it. "_Aguamenti_." Lucius pushed the glass towards Draco and left it at the edge for his son to take._

_Draco stared at the glass, unsure if it was another trick that his father had planned for him. _If I reach for the glass, will I find a shield over it so he can laugh? Or will he smack the hand I reach out with? _Draco met Lucius' eyes and gave a stiff nod. "I appreciate it." Draco did not say anything and became alarmed that his father did not move, as Lucius waited for Draco take the glass. _He asked me a question, what did he ask me? Think, and don'ttaketheglass!

_"You're not going to have a drink? You sound like you're talking with parchment between on your tongue." Lucius looked at his son, wondering why Draco did not take the glass when it was needed._

_"I'm alright." Draco's eyes fell from his father's to the_ _desk. Immediately he lifted them back up, this time with fear in them as he was sure his father would strike him like Lucius usually did when Draco showed weakness or fear. His body shook more violently with each passing second until Lucius finally understood why Draco would not take the water._

_Lucius didn't give in to his first reaction which was to throw the glass across the room. Lucius instead swished his wand so the cup lifted into midair and glided to Draco's chest, forcing his son to hold it. As he watched Draco lift a shaky hand to hold the glass to his chest, Lucius felt his anger shift from Draco not trusting his own flesh and blood, to himself. Narcissa was right when she made the point that simply providing a roof- no matter how grand of a roof it was- did not make him a great parent. It was everything _else _Lucius did._

_So his anger reared on himself instead. Lucius sat back in his chair, his arms folded over his stomach. "No matter." He spoke through ground teeth as he regarded his son with fiery eyes. "Would you say that you and Hermione have become friends?"_

That was the question! _Draco briefly thought about denying the claim, but was more than aware how his father treated liars. "Yes." Draco wanted to wipe his palms on something as they had a layer of sweat on them, but was too afraid to move and heavens forbid he put the glass down. He wished his father would get the beating over with so he could get out of the study as soon as possible... _Unless he doesn't plan on hitting me_, but Draco did not dare to get his hopes up._

_Lucius gave a quick nod, accepting the answer before looking over to his globe, pondering if he should pour himself a drink or not. "Your mother and I have purchased tickets to the Quidditch World Cup for your birthday."_

_Draco already knew this and had bragged about it around Hogwarts. "Yes, I was thrilled to receive the news." Draco felt disappointment build within him. _Is he planning on taking that away from me based on my answer? _Draco's free hand balled into fists at the thought of the unfairness of being put in the balance for his love of quidditch and having a friend who lived with him._

_The one side of Lucius' smile quirked up. "I'm sure, which is why I'm going to tell you this so you know what to expect and your gift is not completely ruined." Draco looked up at that, as Lucius' wording caught him completely off guard. "You're mother doesn't want you to know and you must'nt tell Hermione. It may make your task of protecting her the night of the World Cup, but there are things we must keep from her. No matter how close she gets to _any _of us."_

_"I don't follow, I-" Draco leaned back a little as if to back away from the conversation._

_Lucius held up a hand. "I know you don't, which is why I am going to explain it." Lucius decided against the drink, but rubbed his eyes. Draco had never seen his father show any signs of great fatigue before, and while he knew at this point his father was not going to hit him unless Draco did something outlandish, he did not relax at the sight of his father in such distress. "Nearly every year since the Dark Lord's disappearance, Theodore Nott, Sr. Has held an event for all former Death Eaters..."_

_Draco sat with his eyes wide, but his ears twice as open, doing his best to remember every word._

_A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically-_

* * *

Hermione was pulled from the imagery that _Of Mice and Men_ had provided when she heard the blanking of ceramic and metal. Looking up, she saw Narcissa setting down a tea set on the table between them. The pot and cups were embellished with water color splashes of pinks and blues instead of the bright rainbow colors of the tea set she and Lucius had drank out of. It was still just as much of an antique as the other one was and she appreciated the simpleness a lot more.

_"_Good afternoon, Narcissa." Hermione closed the book and turned in her seat to face the older woman. She had decided to camp out on the second floor back porch to read the book. The sound of the wind blowing through the hedges she could not see though provided the perfect atmosphere and she had the perfect view of wizards decorating the gardens with the finest cloths and glitters for the gala.

"Good afternoon, Hermione." Several wand motions later, Narcissa and Hermione both had a cup of tea in front of them.

Hermione lifted her cup by grabbing the edges, not bothering to use the saucer and resisted the urge to thank Narcissa as the tea danced along her tongue to warm her throat. "Oh, what flavor is this?"

Narcissa smiled as she looked over the gardens. "Apple Cider Vinegar. I say it should be renamed as it tastes _nothing_ like actual Apple Cider Vinegar."

"Mmmm," Hermione took another sip. "I concur."

"You like it?" Narcissa took a sip with her pinky out and saucer under her chin. Her cool eyes landed on Hermione, watching the young woman enjoy it. "It's one of Lucius' favorites."

Hermione felt the tea instantly sour on her tongue's palate. "Oh." She finished it off to be polite and stared down at her hands on top of her book. She flipped her left palm over and saw the pink line against her flesh- the only sign she had been hurt yesterday.

"You don't like Lucius, do you? You act as if you hate him. Has he done anything to you?" Hermione looked up to see Narcissa staring at her with narrowed eyes. She felt Narcissa was narrowing her eyes in suspicion to Lucius' behavior, but Hermione still squirmed with being put on the spot.

"It's not that I don't dislike him, I just prefer to act as if he didn't exist."'

Hermione heard Narcissa pour her another cup if tea, but did not explain her reasoning to fill the silence like Narcissa had hoped. "You don't have to lie to me, Hermione. Lucius and I like trying to understand you and it would make it much easier if you would let us know how we can make you living here any easier." Narcissa gave Hermione a warm smile when she looked up knowing Hermione was going to take her bait. She didn't mind having to be patient with Hermione, so long as she got what she wanted.

Hermione huffed and let her anger at Lucius show. "Well, I've only met him once before coming here, and that was the summer of second year. He insulted me, my parents, and then got into a fight with the Weasley's-" Narcissa's eyebrows went up as she had heard of the fight, but was unaware that Lucius insulted anyone else. She couldn't deny it was out of character for him, though. "He almost killed my one female best friend by giving her a cursed diary and he insulted me again the first dinner I had with you all-"

"Something he did apologize for, correct?" Narcissa had heard about their shared laughing fit on the stairs, but wanted to make sure that her own mission had been accomplished when she forced them to have tea.

"Yes, ma'am." Hermione felt slightly short of breath as she spoke even faster. "Right before he refused to lift the charges on Buckbeak."

"I was the one who put that case together for the Hippogriff. I asked Lucius to see to it that the creature was taken care of." Narcissa said this all calmly, hoping that it would encourage Hermione to keep her anger under control.

Instead, Hermione was so shocked she forgot the rest of her rant. "Wha- You did?"

"Yes." Narcissa looked out to the tall hedges of the maze. The glamour warbled and warped, but she could not see through it as well as Lucius could. "I like to think I have an understanding with creatures. I asked Lucius not to keep this maze filled with them after certain life events had happened." Hermione understood she should not ask to elaborate what those events were. "But, he insisted and in a marriage, the couple should rule together on equal standing. Not one over the other. I know it often looks like I always have the last word, but I promise I don't." Hermione nodded her understanding. "However, a XXX creature being taught to a class of third years was bound to have one child hurt. The parents of the child were going to be angry, write to the school, and have nothing result of it. I know this, because Lucius and I have written countless letters to Dumbledore about Hagrid's curriculum since we first learned about that monstrous book he assigned."

Hermione's eyes were wide at the new information and her voice was nearly shrilly when she spoke again. "But Hagrid is a great teacher! He's passionate and-"

"Your tone, Hermione." Narcissa turned her sharp eyes to Hermione who recognized the warning when given."

"Yes ma'am. Hagrid is a good teacher and he's passionate. Not just about the creatures, but about the students. When Draco was hurt he carried him all the way back to the castle. He beams every time he sees we take an interest in something."

"I don't doubt it." Narcissa sipped her tea. "It's his curriculum I have a problem with and Buckbeak was supposed to be turned into an example." She took another sip before giving a wry smile. "But then you and Harry had to free him. It's a good thing that Lucius sacrificed a tooth to prevent you from being caught."

Hermione's mouth went so dry that she had to drink her tea to be able to talk again. Narcissa watched her with a humored expression, enjoying watching Hermione think. "He- he saw us, ma'am?"

"Yes. He specifically said he single-handedly barricaded the door to stop anyone else from going outside after he saw you two guiding Buckbeak into the forbidden forest." The blonde laughed and Hermione was slightly charmed by how her red lips parted her face perfectly. "Lucius can be slightly dramatic, but he wouldn't lie." _He saw us and didn't say anything? I would have been in so much trouble if I were caught! Not for Buckbeak, but for going back in time!_ _She doesn't know that though, does she? No, she just knows we helped Buckbeak escape. _Hermione's mind raced with rapid fire thoughts and didn't stop until Narcissa spoke again. "And as for everything else before that, he is trying to be better. We both are if I were to be honest. Parenting is not easy and everyday I find myself learning something new or realizing something that could have been done better. I wouldn't trade it in for anything else in the world, though."

Hermione stared at Narcissa and opened her mouth to ask what exactly she meant by that. She wanted to know if Narcissa was talking about the abuse she allowed Draco to endure and if she really expected Lucius to be better. Instead, she decided to change the subject to not only avoid broaching a sensitive topic, but to avoid thinking of Lucius as a savior. "I've been meaning to ask, Draco is an only child and you seem to love being a mum, so why not have more children?"

Narcissa looked at Hermione for a long moment, all amusement gone before looking down at her empty tea cup, for once struggling with how to answer. When she decided what she would say she looked at the maze so she would not have to look at Hermione. "Before I answer your question, I will ask you to never ask a woman about having children whether she has them already or not. It's quite rude."

She heard Hermione take a sharp intake of breath. "I didn't mean to offend you-"

"I know. And I know you're sorry." The regret was thick in Hermione's voice, and while Narcissa wanted to teach Hermione a lesson, she did not want to have her panic. "I wanted a big family. I wanted the manor to be filled with the most precious cherub faces, not the silent collection of halls and rooms that it is. I was pregnant a total of seven times..." Narcissa felt a shiver run though her as she thought of one of her last few interactions with Voldemort. "But Draco was the only one that I was able to carry to term." When she was done, she looked at Hermione's horrified face. A hand covered her mouth and her eyes opened as wide as they could.

"I-I-" She wanted to say she was sorry, but couldn't. Hermione regretted asking about the children and vowed she would never ask anyone about it again like Narcissa had asked. A small part of her wondered why Narcissa allowed for Draco to have a rush childhood if that was the case, but dismissed the thought as soon as it had came. There was no way she would ask now.

Hermione fell silent again and Narcissa refilled her cup to break the silence. When Hermione was over her shock, but still felt too ashamed to start up conversation, Narcissa motioned to the book the girl had been clutching on to in her distress. "What are you reading?"

"Oh," Hermione's voice was small as she looked at the brown and orange cover. "It's a muggle book."

"Yes, I recognized it didn't come from our library." Her tone was teasing as Narcissa tried to lighten up the mood.

Hermione gave a nervous glance to Narcissa before placing the book on the table for the woman to look over. "It's by John Steinbeck. He was an American author, but my mother fell in love with the story."

Narcissa picked up the text and read the summary on the back of it. "Would you mind if I read it when you finished?"

"You- You want to read it?" Hermione's eyes brightened at the idea.

"Yes, it sounds interesting enough."

"Then I wouldn't mind at all, I had just finished reading it anyway." It was a small lie, but she was _almost_ done and read it before. Hermione just wanted to be back in Narcissa's good graces again. "If you don't understand their vernacular, I had made a bit of a cheat sheet on the back of the title page.

Narcissa slipped to the page to see small handwriting that was in near perfect script. On some of the letters there was a slight wobbling, the only proof the handwriting belonged to a child. "Have you always preferred to write in cursive?" Narcissa remembered being surprised at Hermione's elegant penmanship, but never found a time to bring it up.

"I didn't have a choice. The school I went to forced us to write it, _and_ to write with our right hands. At least I can say I'm ambidextrous because of it." Hermione had an embittered look on her face remembering the nuns in her school. When Hermione looked at Narcissa, she saw that she had started to read _Of Mice of Men_ and Hermione smiled before deciding to drink her cup of tea instead of letting it go to waste.

By the time she reached the end of the cup she had decided that it was best to attempt putting her best foot forward again with Lucius. Narcissa had been pushing him to be civil, but he protected her and Harry from- probably- being expelled when saving Buckbeak. She got up and went inside, Narcissa never lifting her head from the book. Hermione started to descend the staircase to check Lucius' study as he always seemed to be there, when she ran into Draco instead.

"Hello, stranger."

Hermione smiled at him before stopping at putting her hands on her hips. "Not 'Hermy' this time?"

"Would you prefer I keep teasing you about being a recluse, _'Mione_?" He smirked using Ron and Harry's nickname for her.

Hermione scrunched her nose as it sounded weird coming from him. "Whatever floats you boat, _Drakey_."

"I'll hex her for ever coming up with that blasted name." Draco's smirk vanished, but his eyes still had a playful glint to it. "What are you up to anyway?"

"I was having tea with your mum, but now I'm looking for Lucius." Hermione's face slightly twisted with distaste at the words. "Have you seen him?"

The boggart of a family portrait automatically popped in his head, teasing him. "You were having tea with my mum?" Usually Narcissa would have tea by herself or in the music room with him if he was practicing. It wasn't uncommon for her to spend time with him by listening to him play as she relaxed and watched with a proud eye.

"Yes." Hermione looked towards the hall that would bring her to Lucius' study. "She made some points about your father I thought I ought to address."

Draco raised his eye brows and crossed his arms as if he would be able to guard his jealousy by the act. "You're going to confront my father?"

Hermione ran a hand over her head before remembering that she didn't need to if Draco was being honest yesterday about the hair products working. "Well, it's actually to thank him. He helped me when I was in a tough spot."

Draco once again felt the green monster on his back grow. He looked up at the portrait of his mother and father above the fireplace with an envious glance. "Father must like you then. He doesn't help anyone."

Hermione snorted before looking up at the portrait he was starring at. "Or he wants something to hold above my head." The Lucius in the portrait turned his nose up higher when Hermione's eyes settled on him and the young Narcissa kept looking forward, ignoring the stares from both children.

Draco looked down at Hermione and she looked up at him. She was shocked to see his expression was somewhat scornful. "You wouldn't understand. You have nothing to offer him and yet he still prefers you."

Hermione, completely shocked by Draco's behavior raised a hand to her necklace. "What are you on about?"

Draco walked over to one of the couches in the foyer and threw himself unceremoniously on to it. "My _whole_ life I've been told how wizards like you shouldn't exist, how you're undeserving of the magic that you wield, yet you come in and turn everything on its head! There are _children's_ books that incriminate muggleborns! Yet they prefer you over me." Draco covered his face with his hands, trying to control the urge to cry. He hated feeling feeble. If his father were to see him now he would be cuffed over his ear for it. _Or would he?_ Draco fleetingly thought about the talk he had with Lucius in his study before he was hit in the shoulder with a pillow Hermione had thrown at him, pulling him back to the present.

"I don't know what has gotten into you, _Malfoy,_ but your father hardly tolerates me. I know that you're used to having all of the attention on you, but in case you forgot, _I did not choose to be here._" Draco could see that she was seething with anger and was trying to control herself.

"I know you didn't and that's not what I meant." Draco sat up and held the pillow to his chest with one hand while he gestured with the other. "I meant that my father has always been aggressive and very vocal on where he stood with social and political opinions. My mother has always stood by him yet both act as if they never spoke ill of your kind- Not that I want to see you hurt or anything, but none of this makes sense." Draco stood and started to pace, flipping the pillow in his hands as he spoke. "Even when his partners all left, he didn't do anything to harm you or the Minister- Drank a little more wine than usual, sure. Now he's almost friendly, he called me into his study-"

"He called you into- Draco, stop." Hermione stood in front of him to break his compulsive pacing and grabbed his face with both hands, forcing him to look at her. "Did he hurt you?" Hermione held her breath, partially hoping she was going to be given an excuse not to set aside her pride to thank Lucius, but mostly hoping Draco had been unharmed. She found it was true that giving up your ill feelings towards someone wasn't easy as she wanted to hold on to the hate she had for Lucius, but if it meant that her friend had been safe, it would have made her hurt pride worth it.

Draco felt the world stop with him when she put her warm hands on his face. "No, and that's the weird thing."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as she dropped her hands. "I understand where you're coming from, you know. Well, to an extent." Hermione held her left hand up and pointed to a small scar across one of her knuckles. "The nuns at my primary school were convinced that if you wrote with your left hand, you were possessed by the devil so they would smack your hand with a ruler if they saw any of us writing with our left hand. They knew how to avoid leaving a mark so our parents wouldn't know, but one day, a nun had caught me at a wrong angle and opened my skin. My parents complained. And after that, they never hit me again- however my heart still raced whenever they corrected me and I would jump at every loud noise because I wasn't used to being untouchable." Hermione dropped her hands and looked up at him, this time taking note of the blue hidden in his gray eyes. "I never got used to it at that school so I can only imagine what it is like for you to have ideas forced down your throat for your entire life only to have it be changed so drastically. Bit of a whiplash, I reckon."

Draco could only nod, grateful she tried to relate to him. While he thought he was more tolerant of muggleborns than his parents and most of his house mates, he still found muggle culture to be extremely weird. "Is that normal practice for muggle schools? To hit children?"

Hermione gave a humorless smile. "No, but some muggles think they're more privileged than other muggles, too."

He knew the statement was a dig at pureblood supremacists, but what she said wasn't untrue so he chose not to comment. The conversation actually brought him back to when they were at the Granger's home and before he could think about it, he asked a question that had been on his mind since then. "What happened after you and your father went back?" Draco wanted to hear more about her life, specifically any struggles she had with her parents to see how alike their childhoods were. Did her parents force Hermione to keep secrets that would cause her friends to hate her if they learned the truth? _Probably not,_ he thought glumly.

Hermione looked at him for a moment, not knowing what he was referring to until it finally clicked. "Oh! Well dad paid for her to see a therapist and she spent some time away from the dentistry." Draco didn't miss the guilty look that crossed her face when she looked off to the side. "I avoided her as much as I could for some time after that. I was petrified of being alone with her, but dad slowly brought us together again. He was a bit of a rock for both of us." Hermione gave a small smile remembering her father. "Mom and I never really agreed much, I realized. He was always the glue between us, not that we didn't love each other of course."

Draco noticed her voice grow more soft as she spoke and her eyes became misty. She was still in pain of course, but she was trying to make the best of every day. Draco decided that he had done enough prying and gave her an exaggerated, superior smirk. "So you finally found out you're in my father's debt for helping you and potty save Buckbeak, huh?"

Despite the playful glint in his eyes, Hermione put her hands on her hips, ready to unleash her feisty attitude. " I didn't ask him to help me and he didn't need to. He's going to try and take advantage of helping me, I know it."

Draco, amused that his teasing got him a reaction and get her away from distressing thoughts, went into a fit of laughter. "Relax, it's just a joke. I'll leave you to it, then." He tossed the pillow he was still holding at her and turned to go back to the manor's music room. He had grown to be so at ease with Hermione that he forgot his lessons on turning his back on others.

The only warning he got that the couch's pillow had been thrown at him was Hermione screaming "Pillow fight!" before it connected with the back of his shoulder. He caught it before it fell and was ready to throw it back as he turned on one foot, only to see she had hidden behind one of the three couches.

He couldn't help but grin as he walked in front of the middle couch. Draco immediately hid behind a couch himself and waited for her to stand up to look for him. He didn't have to wait too long before her curiously curly crown appeared over the third couches cushion. He quickly whipped the pillow over his head and she ducked just in time for it to collide with the cushion in front of her anyway.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing that you're a seeker and not a Beater." He heard her fail to suppress a giggle and he started to feel the same tingle of competitiveness that he usually felt on the field. _She can't best me in everything._

Draco quickly ran over to where she was and she shrieked from being surprised. He only used one hand to hit her with the pillow and she used hers to deflect it before whacking him with hers. "Hey!" He was caught off guard by the force she had behind the hit, but he was laughing and took it as a cue that it was fine to be a little rough back.

When Draco started to let loose a little more, Hermione fought back just as hard as she felt her competitive nature come out. She wasn't used to having someone who was able to keep up with her, but showed no signs of slowing down. They were both fighting off fits of laughter as they ran and jumped around the furniture, both forgetting to be _proper_ and allowing themselves to be kids. They would alternate between throwing the other pillows and smacking each other with the ones in their hands. They only stopped when both of their pillows happened to connect and they sprayed feathers everywhere. When the feathers were mostly on the floor and their eyes met through the last of the plummage raining down on them, they burst into a laughter so hard that they were doubled over crying.

"We... We need to..." Draco tried talking through the laughter, but he would see a feather tangled in one of Hermione's curls and die of laughter again. "Crewe..." He gave up talking for a few minutes to try to compose himself. _We need to get rid of this before-_

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Lucius walked out from the hall his study was in, eyes wide as he took in all the fathers on the floor. Seeing the look on his face would have set Hermione into another fit of giggles if she and Draco were not standing red-handed in the middle of a field of feathers.

"It was an accident-"

"Oh, don't you lie now." The portrait Lucius said. The portrait Narcissa seemed to be hiding behind her hands to hide whatever expression had her shoulders shaking. "That mudblood and _your_ son were swinging the downy pillows as if they were clubs. It's ridiculous how you allow these two to act! Father is rolling around in his grave- or wherever you stuck his portraits!" The painted, young Lucius emphasized the word 'your' as if he had no relation to Draco, let alone be his father. Hermione realized something hearing the portrait speak: Perhaps Lucius thought he was being a good father because that the only type of parenting he knew? Her nose scrunched up thinking that wasn't much of an excuse, but found herself sympathizing to a certain extent.

"Well, you're not very nice- What if we were to decide to stuff you in the same dirty closet with the other nasty portraits?" Hermione's hands were back on her hips and she held the portrait's gaze no matter how angry he looked. She could faintly heard the clucking and tsks of the other portraits, but she paid them no mind.

"I'd like to see you try you little imp." The portrait Lucius' nostrils flared as he sneered at the girl. "I'm here on a sticking charm."

Hermione returned the sneer with a sweet smile of her own. "Oh, well if that's the case, that's nothing a little turpentine can't fix." The portrait Lucius' face fell being taken aback by her threat and Hermione gave a superior look. Draco wondered how she could speak so confidently with the feathers sticking out in every direction in her hair.

"Enough." Lucius took a wary step forward, wondering if he should avoid the feathers or not. He looked at Hermione, who squared her shoulders and seemed ready to be questioned. "What happened here? And," He held up a finger as she opened her mouth. "I want the truth."

Hermione closed her mouth, thinking one more time if a lie would be easier before telling the truth. "Draco and I had a pillow fight."

Lucius placed both of his hands in his pocket, something Hermione recognized Draco doing often when nervous or deep in thought. If it was any indication to how Lucius felt she caught him off guard. "A pillow fight." He repeated, confirming that he had trouble believing her.

"Yes, sir. I did start it though, so if," she took a deep breath as she hated to bringing the subject up. "If any one of us were to get in trouble it should be me."

Draco froze in place, too afraid to take too deep of a breath. _What is she thinking? She doesn't know what she's asking for!_ There was a prolonged silent pause, allowing Draco to build the courage to look at his father's face. When he did, he saw the usual mask in place, but he didn't look flustered or anything of the like. A positive sign he hoped. When Draco's eyes fell on Hermione, she looked to have a serene face herself, but he noticed her rubbing a thumb along the edges of her ring.

"Very well." Lucius withdrew his wand and gathered the mess in a whirlwind before vanishing the feathers, the unharmed pillows and the two empty pillow cases.

"THAT'S IT?! 'VERY WELL'?!" Hermione and Draco both jumped and covered their ears. She never realized that a portrait could bellow as loud as the portrait had at that moment. Even Sir Cadogan, who was known to chase students through other portraits in the hall, calling them 'cur' and 'mongrel' when they declined his challenges to a duel, did not sound as loud. "The old man was right. You have no spine, you're a disappointment allowing that flea-" At the same time the portrait of Lucius pointed a finger at Hermione, Lucius raised his wand and cast a _silencio_ before levitating the portrait off the wall and down another hall leading to the forbidden west wing.

"I would never ruin the walls of the manor with a sticking charm." Hermione and Draco shared a look, unsure if Lucius had spoken to them or to himself. After Lucius holstered his wand again, he gave them a serious look. "I've been looking for an excuse to get rid of those pillows for a while. _I _won't punish either of you, but if Narcissa asks, I will tell her what happened and leave you at her mercy. Now go, and _don't_ break anything else." He glanced at both of them to ensure they understood before leaving them there. Lucius was almost to the end of the corridor he had sent the painting in when he heard his name being called.

"Lucius!" He turned to see Hermione chasing after him. While he was surprised for a second time, he didn't let it show and merely raised an eyebrow as a prompt to continue. Hermione made a show of taking a breath so deep she closed her eyes. When she exhaled she opened her eyes and re-squared her shoulders. "I wanted to say thank you- and not just for the feathers. Narcissa told me about how you had helped Harry and I."

_How cute._ Lucius usually found noble acts annoying, but he wasn't entirely irked that Hermione took it upon herself to put away her hate of him to apologize. He realized that she did everything with purpose and had her own agenda at all times- something he worked hard on when growing up and something he hoped to instill in Draco. He wouldn't let her know it though. "I don't know why you are thanking me, Narcissa informed you very early on in your stay that your actions affect all of us. I was doing what I needed to so we could avoid embarrassment."

Hermione's head fell to the side, but only slightly. She needed to make sure he nor Narcissa knew about the use of the time-turner without outright asking him. "You say that, but the consequences of sneaking Buckbeak out wouldn't have been that terrible. I've started to read up on the rights of creatures and even the most exasperating advocates barely got a slap on the wrist unless they harmed an official in the process of their protests." When Lucius did not bring up the time-turner she felt the anxious ball in her chest dissipate, allowing her to address the other concern she had. "I wanted to thank you because not only was I raised with manners, I wanted to make sure you were not under the impression I owed you anything."

Lucius let out a chuckle before he could stop himself. He covered it by resuming his walk down the corridor with a dismissive wave over his shoulder. "You would have nothing that I would want, consider your slate clean." When Lucius had reached the end off the hallway, he looked behind him to see that Hermione was no longer watching him. He pursed his lips in thought as he opened a door leading to stairs that lead underground to the Malfoy Archives. With every interaction he had with her, the more he found himself believing Snape's story.

* * *

"I've sent your dad several letters already, why didn't he just say he couldn't afford-"

"SSHHHHHH!" Ron glanced nervously around the room Hermione was sitting in. The topic of money was already a touchy subject with Ron and he was afraid that any conversations he had would be over heard by Draco, giving the blonde more ammunition for his bullying. "Dad has worked hard for us to be able to go to school and trying to buy dress robes or costumes for all of us isn't something he can afford right now. He didn't want all of King's Cross Station to know is all." Ron shifted his head to the side and Hermione recognized it as him trying to shrug a shoulder though the flames his body was in.

Hermione sighed, "I wish there was some way I could get out of going. I'm a muggleborn at a high class pureblood event, surrounded by Slytherins who would pay to put me on a rotisserie in front of everyone." She pinched the bridge of her nose as she focused on calming her nerves. When the designer came by, a bald, short, barrel chest man who had a mustache that curled twice at the ends, she could no longer deny that she was intimidated by the idea of the gala. Senor Siriano had made it that more real to her. "I've been to fundraisers and a muggle gala before, but this... This is another level, Ron." Hermione chewed her lip as she thought of the decorations outside. They were simple, but screamed magic everywhere she looked. "All I have are hundred year old etiquette books to help me."

"Don't you usually rely on hundred year old books anyway?" They both laughed at that and Ron felt butterflies in his stomach at the ability to make her smile. "Well, maybe they invited Neville and his grandmother. They're a pureblood family."

Hermione's smile dimmed a little, but she felt hope flicker in her. "Maybe they did. I could ask, I'm sure."

Ron gave his boyish grin that had Hermione's stomach tickling her insides in second year- even with her crush on Professor Lockhart. After the events of last summer- not to mention the very cold winter he contributed to- her crush on Ron had been long gone, although she did feel a bit nostalgic thinking of simpler times. "Plus, dad and Percy are still going. They're not Harry and I, but-"

"Ronald Weasley! What are-" As Molly's voice traveled closer to the fire place, the more Ron's face drained of color. "Is that Hermione?" Molly's voice sounded cheery all of a sudden and Hermione imagined it was forced after catching her son doing something he wasn't supposed to. Ron had mentioned to Hermione several times in the letters he sent her that he was going to try and use the floo to have a face to face conversation with Hermione, despite his parents telling him 'no' when he asked. Hermione tried to convince Ron to listen to them, but he was just as stubborn as her. "Hello, Hermione! How are you, dearie?"

"I'm doing fairly well, ma'am. Yourself?"

"I was just getting dinner ready when I discovered my youngest son didn't learn his lesson last summer on using magical things that were off limits to him." Ron's head disappeared with a pop only to be replaced by Molly's. Her highlighted red hair was toppled on the top of her head and she had what looked like flour on her cheek. "He knows better, so please forgive us for restricting him to owls only. Percy had us going through floo powder all last year with Penelope and it's only fair we restrict all children and not just the one."

"I understand, Mrs. Weasley." Secretly Hermione disagreed with group punishment, but couldn't find herself arguing with Mrs. Weasley. "I was just about to head off to dinner anyway. Please tell Ron 'goodbye' for me?"

"Will do, dear." Mrs. Weasley nodded before disappearing.

When Hermione stood she reached up to the ceiling, stretching out her whole body. When the muscles in her legs started to shake, she released the stretch to head to the library to grab a book before going to her room. She had lied to Mrs. Weasley when she said she was going to dinner as she and the Malfoys already ate, but it was obvious Ron would not be returning to the conversation. When Hermione had reached the double doors to the Library, she stopped before opening the door as her ears perked at the sound of music- Specifically music from a piano. She followed the soft notes further does the hall and saw a crack in the door where the telltale pink and purple lights of the sunset leaked through.

She gently pushed open the door and the scene in front of her was somewhat ethereal. One wall in the music room had windows that went from the ceiling to the floor, showing a beautiful view of the setting sun over the trees surrounding the manor. The sunset itself was beautiful, but the way the light bounced off the pearlescent Bosendorfer's grand piano was something that reminded Hermione of _A Midnight Summer's Dream_. What completed the magical scene was Draco sitting at the piano, hands flying across the ebony and ivory keys, as his hair bounced off the the sun's rays creating a small halo of light. The scene took Hermione's breath away and she leaned against the door frame. She didn't recognize the piece he was playing at all, but she didn't think about it as she gazed at her friend who was enthralled in the music created.

Draco didn't realize the door didn't close all the way when he entered the music room. He knew if he would have went straight to his room, he would have too much energy to sleep so he decided to use the piano to expel any extra energy he had. Draco started with Chopin's Winter Wind, the piece he had struggled with last year and continued, playing whatever difficult song came to mind that he could play. He didn't stop until the sun had set completely and when he did, he stared out of the windows of the music room, watching the last of the suns rays be swallowed up by the darkness. That was when he heard the soft padding of foot steps and turned around to see the door wide open with no one there.

He closed his eyes and cleared his mind, like he would when practicing occulemency. Instead of delving into inside of his mind though, he had cast it out to connect to the wards of the manor. Draco immediately found Hermione's ball of energy slipping in the library and he frowned. He wouldn't have minded if she approached him, but he understood why she hadn't done it. It was one of the same reasons why he didn't interrupt her when she was playing: It was respect. He started to smile at that, knowing her respect wasn't from a place of fear of his name or status before he thought back to the secret he had to keep from her, wondering again if it would be better to tell her the truth;

_"I'm telling you this because the other Death Eaters at the Quidditch Cup won't care she is with us. They will see her as a mudblood and she will be targeted. You're the one who is going to need to protect her and get to safety." Lucius turned his piercing gaze on to his son, his drawling voice low with warning. "Do I make myself clear?"_

_Draco finally took a sip of the glass his father had forced into his hands._ _He was more than alarmed with the information that had been unloaded on him of Nott, Sr's plan for the World Cup, but his silver eyes were determined for once in the short time he had lived. "Yes, Father."_


	28. Circe's Colander

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Usually I wouldn't warn y'all of any angst coming up, but I know some people are stressed out with the pandemic, so this is my fair warning that this is a bit of an angsty chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Hermione woke to the sound of the curtain rings scraping against the metal rod they hung from. The warm light that slapped across her face caused her to involuntarily flinch before reaching for her wand to aim it in the direction the sound came from before she was fully aware of what was happening. "Time to get..." Narcissa froze in place seeing Hermione trying to blink the sleep from her eyes while keeping her wand aimed at the curtains Narcissa was still standing in front of. "Up." Recognizing Narcissa's voice, Hermione dropped her arm and released a breath she had been holding in. She allowed her head to flop against the pillow, still struggling with the remainder of dreamless draught in her system. "I didn't think I would startle you." Hermione mumbled something about forgiveness into the pillow, but was already starting to drift back into a deep sleep again. Narcissa smiled and went around the bed to gently shake Hermione awake, not worrying about Hermione pointing her wand at her again as the sleeping teenager's back was to her. "Come now, we talked about this last night. I need you up."

When Hermione stirred awake this time, she tried harder to hold on to the consciousness. To help resist the temptation of sleep, she forced herself to sit up. "Ma'am, what time is it?"

"Time for you to get up." Narcissa disappeared into Hermione's closet and came back out holding an outfit for Hermione to change into. "Come on, Draco is already downstairs and eating." Narcissa pulled the thick covers off of Hermione, encouraging the young lady to get up. When Hermione did, she stretched before looking at the clothes Narcissa picked out. The button down creme colored shirt had a wine colored collar that had a kaleidoscope of crystals magicked on to it. The skirt Narcissa picked out had perfectly matched the collar and Hermione briefly thought about how her parents would have reacted to her wearing a bold color it.

"I hope you don't find the red to be garish, I thought it would have matched perfectly with your earrings." Hermione looked up at Narcissa and gave a smile. Her parents may have found the color red gaudy, but it _was_ her house color.

"I love it. That's very kind of you."

Narcissa returned the smile with one of her own before clapping her hands together as she remembered something. "Ah! I wanted to ask you, did John Steinbeck write any other books about George? Or Lennie before he was killed?"

Hermione shook her head, stiffing a yawn with the back of her hand. "No, ma'am. Although I'm sure he did write other books. Did you like it?" Hermione's smile grew with anticipation, waiting to hear Narcissa's reply.

Narcissa's bright smile morphed into a bashful one before she glanced at the door to reassure herself no one was there. "I enjoyed it very much. The description and details in the book were well done. It was almost a step under a pensive, honestly." Hermione beamed at Narcissa's words, excited she had someone to talk about muggle work and art with at the manor. "Would you mind if I held on to it a bit longer? I like reading books several times to make sure I catch everything."

"Oh! Of course! Maybe we can discuss it further over tea before Draco and I head back to Hogwarts?"

Narcissa's smile widened again hearing Hermione use Draco's first name. "I would love that. Now, hurry up before we're late."

* * *

Draco and Hermione sat side by side in the salon chairs, turned away from the mirrors as the wizard hairdressers cut and styled their hair. Narcissa and Lucius sat to the side in the salon watching, as they spoke in hushed whispers.

"The muggle gardener was an old man with a lame leg who was bound to die soon, love." Narcissa wanted to reach out to her husband and touch him as a comfort, but would never in public. Public displays of affection was something they never took part in as they were both taught that it was improper. "I don't see why you're concerned about it."

"It's not the fact that he died, it was _how_ he died, Cissy." She gave him a sharp look about using her nickname in public but he disregarded it. "There were no signs of forced entry and the muggle authorities said the autopsy report was 'inconclusive.' They specifically noted that he died with a look of _horror_ on his face. If that doesn't sound like a wizard broke into the Riddle house and cast l_a malédiction verte_, I don't know what does." _La malédiction verte_ translated to the green curse. It was a code for Avada Kedavra that Lucius came up with in the event he ever needed to talk about the forbidden curse in public. Narcissa wasn't fond of talking about an illegal curse in the open, even when using Lucius' code for it, but didn't try to stop her husband from speaking freely about what was on his mind. "I knew I should have sold the house-"

"_Tom_ would have been displeased if he ever came back to find his family home was sold off- even if it's from his disowned family's side." Narcissa muttered immediately. She was discontented with whatever it meant for a wizard to be in Voldemort's father's home and hoped it was just a coincidence. "How will you be looking into it?"

"First, I want to question Nott and the rest of the free _Mangemorts gratuits_-" his code for 'Death Eaters', "Had nothing to do with it. I hope to write it off as a prank or a young wizard trying to make a tribute to Tom, but was scared by the gardener."

"And if it wasn't?"

"Then I'll track down whomever did it." Lucius' voice had been caught somewhere between concerned and annoyed. He hoped he could write it off as a prank, and was irritated that someone broke into a property in his name, but understood that there was the tiniest chance their worst fear may have returned. "This isn't something I am willing to let go of without an answer."

Narcissa nodded, her light eyebrows together in thought. _Tom. The Dark Lord. Voldemort._ Narcissa struggled for years with the guilt of being happy that he was gone. She was free to resume the life she was supposed to have with Lucius- the family she was supposed to have with Lucius. Narcissa looked up at Draco then, watching the hair dresser make the smallest corrections to his hair. They didn't go to Madam Diamandia's again this year- and Narcissa would keep refusing to go back. If Hermione wasn't allowed to be a customer then they wouldn't Malfoys and the Blacks were families who practiced self preservation in all aspects of their lives and wanted only the best for themselves, but even above that, they put their family first. Narcissa's eyes flicked to Hermione and sprang to her feet when she saw the hair stylist starting to prep a straightening iron.

The hairdresser jumped when Narcissa seemed to appear out of thin air by her side. Being this close, Narcissa could see that the woman appeared not to have been out of Hogwarts for more than a year or two. "Hermione, did you ask this young lady to have your hair straightened?"

"No, ma'am." Hermione squirmed at the fierce tone Narcissa adopted. "She offered to surprise me with a different look since it was the first time in a wizard salon."

Narcissa settled her gaze on the hair dresser who was slightly shaking at being approached. It wasn't uncommon for people to have this reaction when her or Lucius were displeased as they were a known family who did not come off as approachable in the slightest. "If you straighten one curl on her head, I promise I will place a blood curse so strong on your family, it will last for the next twenty generations. At least."

When the hair dresser turned her eyes to the floor and apologized, Narcissa returned to her seat by her husband.

"Now, was that really necessary?" Lucius asked with the tiniest amused smile.

"Don't patronize me, Lucius." Her tone was joking even as she was reminded of a memory when Bellatrix had wanted to straighten her hair. Bellatrix had thrown tantrum after tantrum for weeks one summer, without her, Narcissa or Andromeda ever receiving a proper explanation from their parents on why it should not be done. Naturally, the girls came together and came up with a plan to straighten Bellatrix's hair. It didn't take long for them to see why their parents had forbidden it. "You know how I get about hair, blood, and everything of the like."

"Of course I do." Lucius was going to say more, but Draco had approached them, which silently prompted Lucius to say for the hair cut.

Hermione's stylist took longer to finish as her hands shook. She struggled on what to do instead of straightening the hair before settling on face framing bangs and a trim to help Hermione maintain her curls better. Hermione turned her head left, then right looking it over. "I love it!" The stylist breathed a sigh of relief before looking over at Narcissa and Lucius for approval.

Narcissa gave the stylist a small, polite smile. "It's very nice."

All nervousness left the hair dressers' body as she gave the tiniest bow, "Thank you, ma'am."

Lucius paid for the service while Hermione slipped the stylist two extra galleons as a tip. The stylist was flustered once more and gave another small bow. "Thank you, miss." Hermione rejoined the Malfoys at the shop doors, where they waited for her to finish talking to the hairstylist.

Hermione and the Malfoys had went to diagon alley to complete their school shopping with the salon being their last stop before they met Theo and his father for dinner. Hermione ran a hand through her bangs that didn't curl like the rest of her hair, enjoying how silky it felt. "If I had asked her to straighten my hair, would you have been upset with me?"

The question was unexpected, but not surprising with how how little slipped past Hermione. "I wouldn't have stopped you if that is what you wanted. I would have warned you how it would ruin your hair though."

Hermione didn't miss the round about wording that was used. "That didn't answer the question." She said it low to herself as she ran a hand through her bangs again before forcing herself to stop in an attempt to preserve the neatness of her freshly styled hair.

"It was, if you read between the lines." Hermione narrowed her eyes at Draco, who was pretending as if he had not said anything, but the slight twitch of his lips betrayed him.

"Git." She hissed and his lips broke out into a smirk.

"Children, please." Lucius glanced behind him to look at Hermione and Draco, a warning in his eyes. "I will not have this nonsense in public, especially when we get to the restaurant."

"Yes, father."

"Yes, sir."

When Lucius turned around, Draco stuck his tongue out at Hermione at the same time she mouthed 'grow up.' They both tried to hide their laughter, causing an exasperated Lucius to stop and turn around. "Honestly-"

"Draco!" They all turned to see Theo waving at them from across the brick road, waving an arm with a lazy smile on his face. Theo and his father, Theodore Nott, Sr., walked over to them. Lucius, Narcissa, and Nott, Sr. exchanged pleasantries before Lucius put a hand out as if to clap Hermione on her shoulder blade, but thought better of it, allowing his hand to float an inch from her as he introduced her to Theo's father.

"Theodore, I don't believe you've met Hermione, she's the newest addition to our humble abode." Hermione gave a tight smile. _More careful wording, how clever to introduce me as an ornament to the manor rather than a person._ Hermione made a note to avoid Lucius as much as she could at the gala if _that_ was how she was going to be introduced the entire night.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir." Hermione stuck her hand out and was relieved that Theodore opted to shake her hand instead of kiss it like she had read wizards often did in the etiquette books. She understood it was a polite gesture, but the thought still made her uncomfortable. Theodore she noticed, like Lucius, was a handsome man in his forties with black hair and black beady eyes. Unlike Lucius and Draco though, who could have been mistaken for identical twins if they shared the same age, the hair and the eyes were the only features the Notts shared. Theo had a diamond shaped face with curly hair that was almost long enough to be placed in a proper ponytail, and Nott, Sr.'s hair was short and straight. Theo had a a very sharp jawline with a smooth chin while his father had a square face accented with a deep cleft chin.

"The pleasure is mine, miss Granger." Hermione would have thought that Theo's father was an occulemens himself if she had not lived with the Malfoys and knew what it actually was like to have a constant mental or emotional wall up. Since she knew better, she was surprised with the aloof air he presented and how cold he was when speaking with her. He quickly turned to Draco after letting go of Hermione's hand and slowly broke into a wide grin. "Ah, Draco, how have you been?" Hermione was surprised to see Nott, Sr. grab both of Draco's shoulders and give a small shake while looking the blonde over. A very warm greeting after an immensely cold one, but she wrote it off as him not being familiar with her. "You've grown so much already." She glanced at Theo who gave her an indifferent nod in greeting, as if he had not spent all of the winter holiday at the manor.

"Yes, sir, I have." Draco gave a small chuckle after being released, drinking in the attention he got from Theo's father.

"What time is it, Lucius? I would hate for us to be late for our reservations." Narcissa's question was a subtle prod that brought everyone back to the hunger they felt in their bellies. Soon they were walking again, this time with Theodore and Lucius leading. Draco and Theo descended into a light conversation about the the gala and Hermione listened intently, wondering if she will finally learn who Draco would dress up as. When they had raced back to the manor from the greenhouse he asked his parents not to tell her. Playing along, they refused to say anything to Hermione about what Draco's costume was.

"So what are you going to be, Theo?" Draco asked as they turned a corner.

"Dionysus. Greek god of wine, winemaking, and so on." Theo's usually stoic tone shifted into one that was slightly amused. He glanced over at Hermione who saw a mischievous glint in his eye. Catching her staring at him, a smile appeared on his face, revealing white teeth with the slightest bit of crowding. "I'd ask what you're going to be Draco, but I know you want to keep it a secret.

Draco followed Theo's gaze and Hermione rolled her eyes at them to hide her disappointment as the boys laughed.

The sun was setting and Hermione couldn't help but appreciate how different Diagon Alley looked in the twilight versus how it looked in the day. It had an almost eerie atmosphere under the orange and pink sky, but it didn't creep her out. She felt like she was walking in a regular neighborhood for once instead of the busy, bustling street that was too loud for an introvert's comfort. Some shops had already closed for the evening and she could see the lights above the stores as proof that the shop keepers were already having dinner themselves.

When Hermione was passing the alley that she, Harry and Ron had snuck out of by the Magical Menagerie last summer, she saw three homeless wizards trying to start a fire with matches as they huddled around an empty oil barrel. It struck her as odd to see a wizard homeless as she had never seen any bums in Diagon Alley before. Nevertheless, she didn't question it as she dug into her left skirt pocket and gave a handful of galleons to the homeless witch who had been sitting closest to the alley's mouth. The witch let out a cry of delight as if Hermione had offered her a warm bed to sleep in for the night. The witch had reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand with both of hers after the witch passed the gold to the wizard next to her. "May you never go to bed hungry, child."

Hermione nodded her head in thanks for the blessing and gently pulled her hand back before pointing to the matches the third wizard was holding in his hands. "Do you need help?" He vigorously nodded his head, thrusting the matches towards her. She took it and lit the match for the bin before handing it back to him. He immediately lit the bin and threw his hands up in a silent cheer. "I hope you all stay safe tonight."

They smiled as they looked at her as if she had been heaven sent and Hermione realized that the wizards probably only had each other to talk to as the rest of the wizards walked passed them, pretending they didn't exist. Pity started to fill her and she started to turn away. "Blessed be, child."

Hermione stopped and faced the witch once more to bow her head, recognizing the parting salutation. "Blessed be."

When Hermione turned back around, she saw everyone waiting for her with Draco and Theo glancing between her and a displeased Lucius. When she had rejoined the group he held out his hand with his wand poised over it, expecting her to hand him something. She didn't move, unsure of what he wanted until he spoke through gritted teeth. "Your hands." Hermione held up her hands palm side up, and he took one into his hand. Lucius turned it over and scourgifyied between her fingers as he spoke. "I understand you may be on a generous streak, but you shouldn't have given her anything. Her lot will probably just use it for drugs or something useless."

As he worked on her other hand, Hermione tried to bite her tongue to not say anything slick, but she couldn't help not speaking up for others who were less fortunate than she was. "What they choose to do with their money is a judgment on their character, but watching those who are needy and doing nothing about it is a judgment on mine." She said it low so she would not come off as defiant, but everyone still heard her. Lucius grunted before turning on his heel, causing his cape to hit her leg, and Hermione thought she heard Theo's father call her something along the lines of 'mouthy.'

Hermione tried to catch Narcissa's eye, but the woman had joined Lucius and Theo in the lead. Hermione, Draco, and Theo walked silently behind the adults until they reached the restaurant, _Circe's Colander_. The restaurant wasn't a long walk from the alley and Hermione found the restaurant to blend in perfectly with the rest of Diagon Alley until she stepped past the doors the two doormen held open for the group. Once in side, Hermione was in awe of how quickly the atmosphere changed.

The restaurant had low lighting, and held a welcoming feel due to the gradient blue and green lights that were cast across the walls. Hermione could also see a faint twinkling around the ceiling line, only to realize it was fairies that were flying around. "Your name, sir?" The host who greeted Nott, Sr. was wearing traditional white tie attire- complete with tailcoat and gloves.

"Theodore Nott. There should be a table for six." The host didn't move to seat them though as he had spotted Hermione and seemed to be confused. Everyone stood there for a few seconds before Nott, Sr. spoke again, clearly irate the host was not moving fast enough. "Lost the plot, have you? I said there are six of us."

The host looked up at Nott, Sr., and bowed. "My apologize, sir. Please come this way." The host walked past several tables, packed with families that looked as moneyed as the Malfoys. She herself wondered if she was under dressed, but doubted Narcissa would have picked anything to make her feel left out. Looking at Narcissa, she noticed for the first time all day that the woman had picked a rose colored dress that complemented Hermione's outfit in the most subtle way. Hermione felt the nervous knot in her stomach loosen, but only temporarily.

"Theodore- I hope you don't mind me asking- but did you happen to check how _friendly_ this establishment is before setting a reservation?" Narcissa looked around to see that as they passed, the other customers glanced up at them.

Theo's father glanced at Hermione with his cold, dark eyes again. "I did." Narcissa accepted the answer, assuming that they would not have any issues with Hermione's blood status and that their only issue should be how hesitant the host was to seat them.

After they were guided to a large circular table that was draped in a tea colored cloth, their waiter seemed to materialize in the host's place, ready to take their drink orders. "Welcome to _Circe's Colander_," The waiter's bright eyes and mustached smile swept around the table, making eye contact with everyone. "Shall we start with the drinks? Perhaps a bottle of the chef's pick for the night..." The adults settled on different wines while Hermione, Draco, and Theo chose Pumpkin Juice. The waiter left to retrieve their drinks, and Hermione thought he hesitated behind her chair before continuing his trek to the kitchens, causing her stomach to tighten again with unease. She dismissed the thought seeing that he had kept walking when she looked over her shoulder and returned to admiring the room around her. It was very different from the three broomsticks and she couldn't help, but admire the statues that decorated the place. Some talked, some danced, and others simply lazed about. The fairies would sometimes interact with the statues, but were mostly found to be tossing small berries at each other if they were not gliding around the restaurant's perimeter, or splashing around the fountain that was in the back corner of the room.

Draco watched Hermione take everything in as she looked around and found himself fond of the look of wonder on her face.. It was always easy to pick out a muggleborn in a magical setting they were not used to. "Newbie." Draco whispered and Hermione looked at him. He had lifted the menu so the adults couldn't see past his eyes as he pretended to skim the menu.

"It's just different to be surrounded by magic everywhere I go." Hermione was slightly disgruntled after being caught looking around like an idiot and Draco frowned in thought at what she said.

He hadn't thought about how often he had to go somewhere where magic wasn't always there and realized the only event that came to mind were Hermione's parent's funeral. A slew of questions popped into his mind on how a muggle deals with living such an ordinalry life, but he refused to ask anything in public- or in front of his parents. Draco started to actually read the menu when Theo's dad spoke again.

"So, Miss Granger," Hermione looked up from the chicken selection to meet Nott, Sr.'s eyes. "My son tells me that you're taking more classes than the average student at Hogwarts."

"I was. I dropped two classes so I will be taking the same amount as Theo." She kept her tone as just as neutral as his, not wanting to over step any boundaries when he seemed as if he wanted to maintain distance between them. "You can call me, Hermione, Mr. Nott."

At that moment, the Maitre d' came to their table and greeted them all to make sure the restaurant's guests were comfortable. "Are you enjoying your evening tonight? Are there any accommodations I can make for you?" His eyes landed on Hermione with a disdainful look.

"You could take our orders and get our drinks." Narcissa said at once, bringing the attention back to her with how short she was being.

"Yes, of course!" The balding man snapped out of his glare to wandlessly summon a notepad and quill. He asked for Narcissa's order first, then went around the table clockwise. He asked for Lucius' order, then the Notts orders, skipped Hermione, and asked for Draco's order. Hermione pressed her lips together as the Maitre d' flipped his notepad closed and with a wave of his wand, the menus disappeared.

"You forgot someone's order." Lucius' voice was almost deadly and Narcissa's face looked pinched.

The Maitre d' didn't look at anyone as he made a show of pulling his notepad back out and counting the number of dishes that he had written down. "Oh, it seems I have." His voice was devoid of the cheerfulness he had a moment ago as he wrote down what Hermione wanted.

Draco watched Hermione bunch the fabric of her skirt into balls in her lap as she gave her order for a Beef Wellington. Draco could see she was frustrated as she was caught between her pride and not making a scene. She was humiliated and even though he knew he, Pansy and other Slytherins had made her feel that way before, it upset him to see her this way now. He glanced at his parents who were sharing a withering look, no doubt deciding that they would be complaining to the owner about Hermione's treatment.

"Interesting for the Maitre d' to start waiting on us- is this one of the perks of being a Malfoy?" Everyone at the table laughed at the joke- even Hermione, although her laugh was a polite one. It broke off some of the tention the Malfoys felt looming over their table. "It's about time that the children start looking into what they want to do in the future. Theo is going to be following in my footsteps in taking over the business, of course," Hermione couldn't help but glance as Theo when his dad said this. Theo's only acknowledgment that he was aware of being the topic of conversation was the shift in his posture so he sat more straight. Hermione wondered if it was something Theo even relatively wanted as she was reminded that she had to live up to the same expectations.

"As will Draco. He's going to be starting a bit of a shadowing project this year, actually." Lucius drawled, his nostrils were still flared, but he wasn't going to ignore an attempt at conversation. Nott, Sr. nodded his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Lucius continued. "Hermione will be doing the same."

Draco and Hermione both looked at Lucius in surprise. Draco was being taught to take over the family business since he was a tot and knew that he would soon need to start putting his teachings into practice, but Hermione didn't grow up with Draco. Draco didn't doubt that her parents may have taught her the ins and outs of the dentistry between the extracurricular activities they coerced her through, but his family's company was not something to be handed over to anyone, especially without the vigorous lessons he was taught.

Nott, Sr. was also surprised to hear this too. "You're going to have her compete with Draco for head of the company?"

Draco felt his anxiety rise within him. _He_ was supposed to take over, not _her_. Was he wrong to let Hermione console him yesterday after he partially confessed that he feared she was preferred by his parents over him? Was he right?

"No." Lucius looked at Nott, Sr. as if he grew an extra head at the idea. Lucius eyes drifted over to Hermione and she immediately started to prepare herself for the lecture she had been waiting for since she got to Malfoy Manor. It was the perfect opportunity for him to tear into her and say that she was less than everyone else who was sitting at the table, that muggle teachings left her stupid and incompetent. She thought that he would talk about how he would never trust a _mudblood_ with anything his family built. _He wouldn't want me to soil anything they found precious_, she thought bitterly and bit her tongue to fight back the scathing retorts that were already preparing to fly out of her mouth.

Instead of any of that happening, Lucius said something that was the closest thing to a compliment she thought she could ever get from him. "Hermione has a different skill set than Draco that could be put to use. Perhaps she could prepare or manage a fundraiser."

Hermione couldn't help but glance around the table before speaking again. "Do you... Do you think I couldn't handle it?" Her voice was slightly squeaky when she asked and she fidgeted with the end of her skirt. It wasn't often she felt insecure, but she wondered if it was something that her parents saw in her when they left Dr. Dixon with the business. Hermione knew it may have been illogical, but she felt a heavy guilt that it was gone.

That was when Lucius caught her off guard, yet again. "You probably could, but Draco has been preparing to take over the company for a very long time now. There is no reason for us to teach you about the company when he and I are in perfect health, especially when you are years behind what he has been taught." Hermione felt some relief, but hated herself for finding comfort in the validation Lucius provided her. His answer proved that he had thought about her and she told herself she needed to give him more of a chance.

The table fell silent for a moment after both the waiter and Maitre d' came back, this time with their food floating through the air with their drinks. The silver platters were covered by a cloche and they twirled slowly as they floated to the table top in front of their respective owners. The cloches lifted into the air before vanishing and the table's tention multiplied tenfold when they saw what had been placed in front of Hermione.

Two dog bowls. One was filled with water instead of pumpkin juice while the other was filled with something that resembled a smashed, uncooked, Beef Wellington.

Hermione didn't look up at anyone else as she reached out with a lightly smoking hand to pinch the edge of the food bowl and turned around before doing the same to the water bowl. Focusing on the simple task allowed her just enough time to regain control of her magic and she looked up at the smug matre'd. "It's a shame that restaurant with this high of a caliber didn't bother to etch 'Fido' into the side of the bowls." She smiled sweetly at the Matre'd whose face held unconcealed hatred.

"Why would I waste my time etching something into a bowl when you should feel lucky to be sitting at a table instead of at someone's feet, mudblood."

Hermione's smile only grew into a grin. She refused to let him see how much being treated like she was lesser than had actually bothered her. "And yet, it is you who waits on me."

The Maitre d' face completely fell into anger at that. "Get out."

"Gladly." Hermione pushed herself away from the table to see Narcissa and Lucius were already standing. Narcissa's pupils retracted into the smallest dots and Lucius had turned red, his hand twitching over his steak knife. Hermione briefly locked eyes with Nott, Sr. Who was sipping on the wine he ordered, his face pulled into a half smile.

_"Theodore- I hope you don't mind me asking- but did you happen to check how friendly this establishment is?"_

_Theo's father glanced at Hermione with his cold, dark eyes again. "I did."_

Hermione let out a huff from through the anger that had her skin burning beneath her clothes. She turned and quickly walked out of the restaurant, her hands starting to smoke again as she started to process what happened and what it meant. As she strode towards the front doors, she saw everyone watching her and realized that there were some wizards who were close enough to the table to laugh at everything they overheard. The sneers and whispers caused her to walk even faster, even when she heard Narcissa and Draco calling out for her, she continued to walk.

_Do they all see me like that?_ She had just reached the doors where the Host was and they made eye contact before he turned his nose up at her. She pushed open the door, accidentally shoving the doorman to the side since he did not open it fast enough. "Sorry!" The doorman simply grunted as she ran off, trying to out race the shame and embarrassment she felt. _It wasn't my fault. I did nothing, but exist!_ But even reason did not make her feel any less of an outcast. Hermione felt like the rug had been pulled from under her and she was fighting with whatever force had tried to take it from her. It was a losing battle and she could feel her depression and doubts start to fill her again until it seemed to choke her.

Theodore Nott, Sr.'s smiling face popped in her head again. _They all must see me like that. Nothing better than a dog._ She thought of Narcissa and began to cry at the thought of how she may be seen through the woman's eyes. Hermione tried to reason with herself, and say Narcissa saw her as a human, but her floodgates had already been opened and her heart started to ache.

She didn't see where she was going, but kept walking, wanting to put a considerable amount of distance between her and the restaurant before she turned back to find the Malfoys. Hermione didn't stop until she bumped into something- or rather someone- and that was because the person had grabbed her instead of letting her brush past.

"You're the girl from earlier." Hermione looked up to see one of the homeless men from earlier looking down at her. She had nearly passed the alleyway she first found them in. The fire was still lit, but there was only the other man sitting with it, the witch was no where in sight. "Why are you crying? Where'd your lot go? Sit with us."

Hermione stepped back, and he let go of her, but stayed close. "N-nothing happened."

"Don't give me that." The man chuckled and Hermione saw that past his dirty appearance, the wizard was on the younger side. "At least tell up what happened before you go. Keep me and Marty some company before you run off again?" Hermione looked back at the man by the fire who gave a vigorous wave at his name being mentioned. Hermione looked up at the homeless man she bumped into. "Reckon it'll make you feel better to talk 'bout it. We won't bite- mostly because I'm almost out of teeth and Marty lost his tongue along with all his teeth!" The younger man laughed at Hermione's surprised face, but she felt herself starting to feel better. She felt a twinge of longing to see Dr. Augsen again, but squashed it as she checked the time, telling herself that a she could have a few minutes to herself before turning back.

* * *

Draco tried to follow Hermione out of the restaurant, but she was too quick and twice he had to stop as he was intercepted by the wait staff. "Hermione!" He tried not to call out too loud and knew he didn't need to in the restaurant, she kept walking. Draco's anger flared at being ignored, causing him to nearly knock over a third waiter who cut in front of him with drinks for a table.

He could hear the commotion his parents were raising behind him, but he was charged with finding Hermione by Lucius- which even if he wasn't, Draco would have offered to look for her anyway. When he got outside he looked left and right, but saw nothing. He walked back to the front of the restaurant and spoke to the doorman on his left. "There was a young witch who left the restaurant just now, do you know which way she went?"

The doorman's face darkened for a moment. "Red skirt with a bird's nest for hair?"

"It's not a bird's nest." Draco snapped as he grew impatient. While Hermione's hair had been more tamed recently, it didn't surprise him that her hair would still sometimes react to her emotions like her hands did.

"She slammed the door into me on the way out before heading _that_ way." The door attendant pointed towards the direction that they had came from. Draco took off in a brisk walk, not bothering to reply to the doorman. If the doorman hadn't insulted Hermione, Draco would have tipped him after hearing she hit him with the door instead of thinking he deserved it.

Draco kept his eyes sweeping over both sides of the street, looking for any sign of Hermione. He was about to start calling out for her when a gloved hand grabbed his shoulder. Before spinning around to face whoever had his hand on him, he grabbed the person's wrist to shove it to the side, but instead dropped the hand completely while taking a step back seeing it was Lucius had grabbed him. "Where's mother?"

"We split up. Did you see Hermione come this way." Lucius readjusted his glove with a frown, but said nothing about Draco's reaction, knowing it was his fault that Draco reacted to him like that.

"No, the doorman said she ran this way. I haven't seen her, though." Draco grew uneasy and wondered if she might have ran into any trouble. "She could be anywhere."

"She does have a habit of letting her emotions rule her actions..." Lucius wasn't completely convinced that he could blame her for it. "We should keep looking. She couldn't have gone too far."

Draco silently followed his father. Draco agreed that Hermione could not have gone too far, but she was no where to be found. Anything could have happened to someone who was petite like her, especially when their thoughts were clouded with rampant emotions.

When they were nearing the Magical Managerie, they started to hear an untuned guitar playing. Draco assumed it was coming from the homeless wizards and didn't think anything of it as he kept walking towards the mouth of the alley, his mind only on Hermione until he was stopped again by Lucius. "Draco, she's not here. Let's head back to Narcissa."

Draco's concern overrode his apprehention of rebelling against his father long enough for what was on his mind to slip out. "But what if she needs help or something? We should at least ask those wizards she helped earlier if-"

"I didn't ask what we should do, Draco. I said we needed to regroup with your mother." Lucius watched his son closely. Draco had gotten too stressed and was letting his occulemency walls fall. In the distance, there was a female voice that was singing off-key in French with the guitar. "Your mother and I said we would regroup after fifteen minutes of searching and we've gone over that. Have you even thought that maybe Hermione is waiting with your mother and she didn't actually come this way?"

Draco couldn't argue with that, especially when he thought that Narcissa may have found Hermione before they did. Draco started to walk back to the restaurant with his father when he heard the singing break off and the group of people laughing. He stopped when he heard Hermione's laughter and looked over his shoulder to the opposing wall in the alley where the bright flames had cast a familiar silhouette. Draco turned on his heel, without saying a word to his father to find Hermione standing across from the homeless wizards.

Hermione jumped when Draco came into view. She hadn't heard him walking down the street, but she assumed that was due to the laughter she had shared with the homeless wizards and witch- who had came back shortly after Hermione vented about her encounter in the restaurant, holding a paper bag filled to the brim with food. "You know we've been looking for you this whole time?" Draco couldn't help, but raise his voice despite the feeling of relief that had washed through him. He felt his father join his side as he stared at the scene in front of them.

Hermione looked at her watch and saw that she had been gone for over twenty minutes. "Oh!" She looked at the three wizards apologetically. "I am so sorry, I have to go-"

"No worries, child!" The woman gave a laugh that was half wheezing and half squeaky. "Thank you, for the entertainment- We've been looking for a equally bad singer for our equally bad player here." They all laughed at that and Draco flushed with anger feeling as if Hermione was not taking how him nor his parents felt seriously. "and the food of course!"

"Anytime-" Lucius cleared his throat, cutting Hermione off and she felt her shoulders droop, having to return to her normal life. "Goodbye, and blessed be." Hermione looked at the ground as the three wizards mumbled their blessings back to her.

When she fully rejoined Lucius and Draco, Lucius didn't say another word as he turned around to start walking back to the restaurant. She didn't need to speak to know that both of them were livid, but she felt the need to apologize anyway.

"Lucius, I promise I didn't mean to loose track of the time." Lucius acted as if he did not hear her and continued walking in silence. Hermione fidgeted with the red and gold ring she always wore, as her anxiety grew worse. "I didn't mean to make anyone worry."

"Then you shouldn't of had ran off!" She expected Lucius to snap at her, and was completely off guard when it was Draco who did. "You heard me call out for you, and you still kept going. What if something would have happened to you?"

"Nothing would have happened to me! I have my wand!" Hermione found her words after overcoming the momentary shock of being spoken to like a child by Draco. "I didn't-"

"Think?" He finished for her. Draco's face was so red she thought he was angry enough to hit something. "Obviously. Did your parents never teach you how about stra-"

Several things happened at once before Draco could finish the sentence.

Lucius turned around to chastise Draco, but instead caught Hermione's fist before it could reach Draco's face. He bent over and pulled her in close so she was forced to look him in the face. "You do not ever lay your hands on anyone. Draco or anyone else. That is not your right- even if you think you can get away with it because you're a female or muggleborn." Lucius straightened up to be at Draco's height and pulled Draco in by robes. "And I shouldn't have to _remind_ you about the consequences of having a loose tongue." He let go of Draco who had took an extra step back to regain his balance. "Both of you will stop this foolishness right now as Narcissa and I will not entertain it. Do you understand me?" Draco shoved his hands in his pockets while Hermione bit the inside of her lower lip, both of them refusing to look at anything but the ground. "I believe I asked a question," Lucius voice dropped even lower and Hermione thought she could feel his anger from where she stood. For the first time since she had met Lucius Malfoy, she was intimidated."Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Yes, father."

Lucius looked at Hermione, thinking that she was trying to sass him at first. When she didn't look up at him and he saw how furiously she played with her ring, he gave her the benefit of the doubt in deciding that it was a muggle saying that meant his words were heard. "Very good."

Lucius barely straightened up to his full height before Narcissa rejoined them, upset she was kept waiting for so long that she decided to look for them instead. Lucius then made hersour mood worse and informed her of every detail as to what had happened since they separated to look for Hermione. If Draco was livid and Lucius was pissed, Narcissa was completely beside herself.

Hermione's parents had both been yellers when they were upset. Narcissa however, was not. In fact her voice became even more calm the more upset she seemed to get and Hermione found herself preferring being yelled at. Hermione's anxiety bubbled and wormed in her stomach and through her chest as she listened to Narcissa. When she finally found an opening to politely interrupt in an attempt to try and explain herself, her voice trembled.

"I didn't mean to make anyone worry-"

"I know that was not your intention, but I need you to be more aware of your actions over your emotions. I understand you may have felt overwhelmed, but you need to remain within our whelm of protection. The restaurant should have been an example that people will hurt you simply for existing and if we can not see you, we can not protect you- let alone that there are wizards who will kidnap you or Draco in a heartbeat to hold you for ransom." Narcissa took a deep breath and Hermione found herself wishing she hadn't said anything at all. "Tomorrow morning, I am going to start preparing you both for the gala. We will meet for breakfast at nine AM sharp and continue from there. Hermione," Narcissa held a hand out in front of her as she spoke. "I am going to contact Dr. Augsen-"

"Ma'am- Please-"

"AND-" Narcissa still had not raised her voice, but Hermione stopped because of sharp it sounded. "You will resume treatment with her. It was premature for you to stop seeing her as there are still issues she can still help you with- like occulemency." Hermione had fat tears falling down her cheeks at that point. She wanted to scream she hated Narcissa in front of all of them, but knew it would do nothing. On top of that she found that she didn't mean it, even as she thought it. Who she really hated was herself. Everything that happened tonight was her fault and her logic screamed at her that Narcissa was right to contact her therapist again.

"I want both of you to go to your rooms and think about your actions tonight- Both of you." Narcissa turned her hard look to Draco who still refused to look at Hermione. After Lucius had scolded them in the street, she tried several times to catch her eyes so she could see she regretted trying to hit him, but he ignored her completely. It was worse than being bullied by him she realized. "I'll have Crewe bring your dinner." Narcissa placed a hand on her hip before turning to talk to Lucius.

Hermione and Draco walked up the stairs, neither of them saying anything. She thought about trying to apologize to him then, she even reached a hand out as they walked up the stairs, but the air between then radiated the emotional turmoil he was dealing with and she let her hand fall to her side.

* * *

Narcissa watched the two teens walk off before placing a hand on her head. She turned around to face Lucius who already had a glass of whiskey waiting for her. She took the glass and sipped from it, hating the taste of it as it washed down. "Oh, that's foul."

"I know. That's why I let you take a sip of _my_ drink." He held a hand out for it and she chuckled as she passed it back to him before releasing another sigh. "No, you weren't." When Lucius took a drink, he took a long, deep gulp that Narcissa wrinkled her nose at, wondering how he could handle the disgusting taste.

"No, I wasn't, what?"

"You weren't too hard on them. I know you were about to ask, you always feel bad after disciplining, Draco and this time you had to be hard on Hermione, too."

Narcissa pursed her lips, wondering why she was surprised that her husband knew her so well. "I've been hard on her before."

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "I am a delight to have tea with, she should be lucky." He drank the rest of the liquor before vanishing it and taking his wife's hand. "It'll be fine, Narcissa. Go start dinner while I start writing the howlers and the letter to Andromeda."

Narcissa's eyes narrowed and her grip tightened in her husband's hand. "Will you send one to Nott? He knew how that restaurant would feel about muggleborns and they served everything on iron-"

"Do you think that's the best thing before the Quidditch Match?" Lucius' voice was soft, and not at all condescending. He pulled her in by her hand so she was standing inches from him. He knew she was thinking about it and was having an inner battle between what she wanted to do and what she should do. He placed both hands on her neck and kissed her forehead before moving his hands to massage the back of her head. "Perhaps we can talk about this over dinner since it will be just the two of us? You're too angry right now and we shouldn't make any brash decisions."

Narcissa sighed and Lucius placed a kiss on her jawline, causing her to give a small giggle. "You think you're clever, don't you, Mr. Malfoy? I know what you're trying to start here."

Lucius smiled down at his wife, his eyes full of love, and happiness to see that she wasn't completely torn up about the events of the last few hours. "I know I am. The sorting hat told me so."

Narcissa laughed at his joke. "Oh, so you were sorted into Ravenclaw? Then who was the Slytherin prefect I dated and married?"

Lucius shrugged, the gesture weird and unfamiliar in his proud shoulders. "Drugged him, killed him, used polyjuice ever since to keep you from suspecting a thing."

"Ah," Narcissa kissed Lucius now and when she pulled back, she her usual sly smile back on her face. "That's how I know you're full of shite, the person has to be alive for you to use their hair in a polyjuice potion." Narcissa pulled back and sighed, resetting her system one more time. "Go write you letters, and meet me in the kitchen for dinner. The island will be fine for just the two of us."

Lucius watched her disappear before he left to walk to his study. A thought struck him as he walked and he called for Crewe.

The elf apparated with a loud pop and a tremble as he did every time he was summoned by Lucius. "Yes, Master?"

"I need you to find what 'Fido' means to muggles, then report back to me. I have a feeling Hermione said something funny today and I would like to understand the joke."

The house elf quietly floated by his master, waiting for another order for his master to give another order. "Sir, will that be all?"

Lucius looked at the house elf before placing a hand on the door to his study. "Do you want there to be more, Crewe?"

His only answer from his elf was the satisfying pop of disapperation, a promise that he would be receiving an answer soon.


	29. Grounded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Pregnancy/ Miscarriage mention. R*pe mention (Nothing has happened, the subject comes up in conversation- very briefly- at the very last scene of the chapter)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

"What do you mean I can't run this article?" Minister Fudge gave Rita Skeeter a hard look. "I had the staff interviewed and getting these pictures was not that easy!" She pointed a red manicured finger to the pictures she had on Fudge's desk.

He looked down at them, his lips turned into a small frown. "'**The Malfoy's Muggleborn throws Tantrum in Five Star Establishment**'? It'll hinder my plans for the orphanage they're opening." Despite his words, he continued to read the article in front of him. "You said they skipped out on their bill?"

"After harassing the waitstaff and the Maitre'd." Rita jut her chin forward in her scowl. It was a firm stretch of the truth, but it was more interesting written this way. "The public will eat this up, keep them under your thumb-"

"I told you that you were to come to me first before publishing anything on the Malfoys. The fact that you decided to do all of your dirty work before coming to me is on you."

Rita lifted her leg to stomp it to the ground as she usually did when things did not go her way, but stopped herself, foot still in the air as she thought about how she could change his mind. She walked around Fudge's desk and sat on the article he had in front of him. Slipping off a stiletto, she ran a pantyhosed foot up his shin to rub his inner thigh. "There has to be something I can do for you to change your mind, Minister." With one hand she unhooked her outer robes to reveal her blouse. If she would have thought she needed to convince Fudge to run the article, she would have worn something more revealing. Rita lacked the curvaceous body Narcissa had, but she did have a bigger breast size and glamours to appear just as young as the Malfoy Matron.

Usually, Fudge would have been in the palm of her hand by now, but she had noticed over the past week or so he had been distant with her. Fudge rolled his chair back so her leg fell from his lap to dangle in the air beneath his desk. "Really, we're both _married_ professionals, now. I said no. If you want to spin this article the _other way_, I may let you publish something."

Rita's mouth dropped open and she blinked several times at Fudge through her horn-rimmed glasses. "The other way?" Her voice was flat and devoid of every emotion but disbelief. In all the time she had been involved with Fudge, he had never rejected a sexual advance- even on his worse days.

"Yes. Something to put them in a positive light. Lucius informed me that the staff at the restaurant had been prejudiced to Hermione- write about that! The laws against Muggleborns were disbanded decades ago and with how progressive the youth are now-a-days, listening to the Weird Sisters and Stevie Nicks, it would look better for _The_ _Prophet _to take that same stance." He smiled at what he thought to be was a brilliant idea, obviously pleased with himself.

Rita took the rejection in stride though and slid off of the table, causing a few of the sly photos she had acquired to fall to the floor after her. Her whole life, all she had known was to give others what she want, and she prided herself in her success in always getting her way. "Cornelius." She got on all fours and crawled over to the man, placing her head between his knees. "You know I have no shame in pleasing _you_, or the Ministry, but-" Her voice was a sulky purr and she ran her long red finger nails up Fudge's thighs.

"Then do as I say and write an article that will benefit all of us." She jumped at the serious tone he used with her, and looked up to see not a single micro muscle showed signs of lust in his face. It wasn't often that Rita was spurned and often lashed out by writing a piece about whomever refused to work with her. However, she knew better than anyone that she couldn't write a piece about Fudge and get away with it- he was too big of a fish to fry. Rita learned that early on there was always going to be a bigger fish looming over her, so she used what she had to keep that fish in her net, without it realizing it had been caught until _she_ decided to let it go or pull the net above the surface of water. "Get up."

Rita stood at the command, despite being taken off guard by his harshness. Suddenly, she felt silly that she was in one stiletto and watched Fudge get up to retrieve her robe from his desk. "I think it's time to go. I won't _make_ you write the positive article, but it would place me in a better mood to see it published." He placed her robes over her shoulders and the statement hit her harder than the sudden warmth of her robes. _That was his way of saying that he wants the article written. _She turned around to see him picking up the dropped pictures from the floor and placing them in a neat stack before handing them to her. "I'll see you at the Gala next weekend."

She had nothing left to say or do at that point. Rita Skeeter fastened the tie on her robes around her neck and slipped on the stiletto heel she had taken off. She was beyond miffed, she was outright confused. The change in Fudge was a quick one, almost too quick- but she didn't notice any signs of the imperius curse or something of the like. She was more than familiar with that type of magic as her debut with _The Daily Prophet_ was during the first war. She remembered the look in Fudge's eyes when she was on all fours in front of him and they were as clear as any other time she looked into them. The door to Fudge's office closed behind her and she jumped at the sound abruptly bringing her out of her thoughts. She wasn't sure if it was the writer or the Ravenclaw in her that told her something wasn't right.

As Rita walked down the hall to the Ministy's lift, she sent her patronus to her assistant with a message to write up a draft of what Minister Fudge wanted. Usually she liked to know the glory of a good piece was done all by herself, but she planned on locking herself in her office, reflecting back on her last few encounters with Fudge in her pensive. _He hated the Malfoys, and I know he wants to use the orphanage as a cover for something... Maybe that was it._ Her gut turned and told her that it wasn't as simple as that.

When she got to the main floor of the Ministry, she caught her reflection in a freshly polished marble wall. She stopped and took a step closer to it before pressing a hand to her cheek. She willed herself to see past her own glamours to look at a face she regularly avoided looking at. She hated seeing the truth, she always had as she always found it to be overwhelming or underwhelming- so she often made her own truth to present to herself and the world. Rita Skeeter hadn't aged well. She was starting to have parentheses form on her face and even when keeping her face neutral, there were permanent crows feet. She was more than aware of the wrinkles that formed when she arched her eyebrows and she looked away from her reflection, not being able to stand it anymore.

_What's changed?_

* * *

Back in his office, Fudge swirled his glass of wine before taking a sip. He loved being a wizard. Loved having the title of being the most powerful wizard- even if it was just in the political sense and everyday before he went home, he shared a drink with his thoughts, reveling in how good his life was. With this habit of drinking everyday though, he ran out of liquor fast. It was only a matter of time before he opened up the bottle of wine Narcissa brought him when he forgot to restock.

Fudge had opened the bottle of sparkly blue bubbly only ten days ago after completely forgetting about it, but it was heaven sent. He knew Narcissa said she had the bottle in her cellar, but wondered where exactly she got it from. The wine lasted way longer than any other he had drank before and he noticed his mood had improved- along with him becoming more focused. He had been wanting to sever the too close relationship with Rita Skeeter for months, and yet he was only able to do it tonight.

He took another deep drink, thankful he didn't throw out the bottle when he first realized that there was a change within him after he started drinking Narcissa's gift. He was suspicious that she may have tampered with it, but not only did he have it checked to verify that no magic was done by wand to it, he didn't see why Narcissa would tamper with something to make his life better without telling him.

_The Malfoys are good people and Hermione is a pleasant child that should not be harmed. _Fudge heard the whisper in his consciousness but didn't think twice about how the thought wasn't in the same voice like his thoughts usually were.

He let a finger lazily trace the rim of his glass, deep in his happy thoughts. He found himself looking forward to the gala as he knew it would be a night that everyone would be talking about for a very long time.

"Never too early to start campaigning for another term, Cornelius." He gave a boyish giggle before hiding the wine bottle again in a false bottom in one of his drawers. "Things will only be getting sweeter from here."

* * *

"A guest asks you about your opinions on the fifty-percent law on wands, what do you reply with?"

Hermione opened her mouth to ask what the law was, but like most of the questions Narcissa asked, Draco gave an answer before she could. "I'd say something along the lines of 'That's an interesting topic you have brought up and would love to hear your opinions on it.' Knowing our guests, they would feel important for being given the floor to speak when I really just deflected the question to stay neutral. I'd leave their table shortly before their rant ended to greet the other guests."

"And if they were more persistent to hear your side?" Narcissa tapped the parchment that she was holding to her shoulder, listening to Draco's reply with a raised brow.

"I'd say that both sides have strong points with well grounded sources and deflect the question to a different topic that was still somewhat related."

"Good enough I suppose." Narcissa looked at the parchment again, that was basically a checklist of things she wanted to go over for the day.

"What is the fifty-percent law on wands?" Hermione piped up. She understood that it wasn't wise to bring up religion or politics at large events like these- although politics were almost _always_ brought up at these events- but anything that may have affected her use of her weapon was something that she wanted to be aware of.

"Oh, you mean there's something you _don't_ know?" Draco quipped.

Hermione threw him a look out of the side of her eye. "Don't get used to it, you-"

"I thought making the both of you eat by yourself the past two nights would have allowed you to call down and get over your disagreement. Do I need to make you two have _tea_ together?" Narcissa glared at both Hermione and Draco. Both vigorously shook their heads in fear of her question and Narcissa let her features fall back into a neutral mask. "Then you ought to play nice- and get over it before the Gala next Friday. Nothing can go awry, it's too important and Lucius has worked very hard on making sure everything goes smoothly."

"I thought you had planned the galas." Draco had never heard of his father plan anything out. While Draco wasn't raised to be sexist- he was actually raised to be the opposite- there were roles he knew every Malfoy followed.

Narcissa glanced down at her parchment, being caught off guard by the observation. "Lucius wanted to try something different to keep him occupied before he tried working with others again." An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a second before Narcissa looked up, placing the parchment face down on the table she had them sit at in the Library. "Which brings up another reason why the gala is important. Lucius is planning on using the night to re-establish a new business network."

Draco nodded his head, accepting his mother's words before he turned to Hermione. "Hear that, Granger? No running off, and picking fights."

Hermione sat up then, pointing her palm to the middle of her chest. "When do I _ever _pick a fight? You're the one who has been provoking me, you self-absorbed-"

"That's it!" Narcissa stood as she drew her wand and flicked it. Immediately both Hermione's and Draco's chairs moved from being on one side of the table facing Narcissa to the ends of the ornate cherry wood table so they were facing each other. The action was so sudden that Hermione picked her feet up from the floor in fright as she gripped the arms of the chair. When they stopped moving, Narcissa held out her hands, palm up to them. "Give me your hands."

Hermione and Draco both shared a look of regret before reaching out for Narcissa. "It's time for a lunch break anyway. While I prepare some food, I want you both to hash out your feelings and when I get back, I want you both to be the best of friends." Narcissa looked at Draco. "Stop attacking her and you-" Narcissa looked at Hermione whose face was a slight grimace. "Stop falling for his bait. You know he only wants a rise out of you." Narcissa glanced between them once more. "Now, neither of you are to get up until you've gotten over your little row from Monday."

"Yes, ma'am" Draco and Hermione said in unison.

Hermione was sure she saw it this time- there was a black ring that expanded from Narcissa's pupil over the rest of her eyes as she silently cast the spell. Narcissa picked up her parchment and started to leave before turning around to cast another spell before leaving. Hermione didn't need to try to move again to know that a sticking charm had been placed on the chairs she and Draco sat in.

Narcissa didn't look back a second time as she walked out from the library. She didn't feel guilty at all for punishing them, as all day yesterday Hermione and Draco were bickering to the point that they had not finished her lessons until dinner time. Narcissa learned that both were too big on holding grudges to ignore the events from Monday and both were too proud to make up for it without being pushed.

When Narcissa opened the kitchen door, she was surprised to see Lucius drinking tea at the kitchen island as he read _The Daily Prophet_. "Why are you reading that trash?"

Lucius looked up from blowing on his tea, a smile on his face as he treated the appearance of his wife as a pleasant surprise. "I've been keeping an eye out to see if Skeeter had caught wind of what happened at _Circe's_." He paused as he took a small sip of the tea before he resumed blowing on it. "She did."

"How?" Narcissa walked up to Lucius to look over his shoulder at the paper. "I would've spotted her there in a heartbeat." Her eyebrows came together as she read the header before looking down at the photo of Hermione, running out of view, before reading the header: **New Restaurant Discriminates Against The Newest Malfoy.**

"You know she has her ways. I've never been able to figure anything out with her." He scowled at the paper before laying it flat on the island counter. "Where are the children?"

Narcissa pursed her lips as she finished reading the article. "They're grounded."

Lucius sipped his tea and let out a satisfied sound. "Grounded? As in they're forced to talk their issues out or you sent them to their rooms?"

"I'm making them talk. All they've done for the past day and a half is bicker and it is driving me mad." Narcissa angrily marched to the inside of the island where the counter tops and fridge was to start pulling ingredients out for a steak and kidney pie.

Crewe, being the spectacular house elf he was, apparated into the kitchen sensing someone rummaging through the fridge. "Is there anything I can make for you, ma'am?" The house elf took a step towards Narcissa, smiling as he looked up with his large eyes. Narcissa was a mistress he did not mind serving as she merely had moments of being unpleasant, nothing more than being demanding and short-tempered, but she was no where near as cruel as Lucius.

"No, Crewe. I think it would do me good to relieve my stress by cooking this myself." Narcissa removed butter, liver and kidney from the fridge.

Crewe held up a finger and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Lucius. "I believe Narcissa said she didn't need your help." Crewe bowed to Lucius, ready to apologize for what would have been interpreted by his master as talking back, but Lucius didn't want to hear it. "You may leave now." Without straightening up, the house elf disappeared with a pop. Narcissa continued to rummage through the kitchen drawers for a cutting board and knife. After washing her hands, she had started to dice the liver when Lucius decided to speak again. "Preparing food the muggle way?"

Narcissa glanced up but did not stop chopping the organ. "You know I cook or garden without magic when I'm upset." She pushed the bits of liver she had and cut off another section to dice. "Can you find me a bowl? I forgot to grab one."

Lucius got up and searched the cabinets for a bowl. "I just think they've got you really riled up is all." After the fourth cabinet he finally found one and placed it next to the cutting board Narcissa had began scooping the organs off of. "I think you like it though."

Narcissa paused with her hands mid-air and gave Lucius an incredulous look. "Have you gone daft? You think I like having two petty, adolescent children fighting all day to the point I can hardly get through what I need to with them?"

Without a beat he gave her a charming smile. "Actually, I think you love it." Narcissa scoffed and rolled her eyes as she dumped the liver into the ceramic bowl. "It brings life to the manor, you know. It's not so... quiet."

Narcissa glanced at her husband out of the corner of her eye and this time her chopping slowed. She had shared her thoughts with filling the manor with children many times with him. However, it was almost always on her terms the topic be brought up as it never ended well when Lucius tried to talk about children himself. "Lucius, I have a knife in my hand."

His smile didn't falter in the slightest at the threat, but it did change to become more warm. He gently pried the knife from her grip and set it on the cutting board to pick up her animal blood soaked hands. He barely minded as it had been over a decade since he became desensitized to any blood, human or creature. "I was just thinking, if you wanted to try again we could." He raked his eyes over her body as he smirked. "Right now even." Narcissa pulled her hands away and stared up at her husband. A million thoughts were going through her head at once. They had never talked about trying to give Draco a sibling... They simply stopped. They were over the moon to have Draco and assumed their luck had ended there. With Narcissa's lack of response, he started to second guess himself- one of the many affects that only she had on him. "I know that may be asking a lot with how many times we tried in the past, but if you were up to it and wanted another-"

"Help me get this pie in the oven first." Narcissa turned back to the liver and cutting board, chopping with a new eagerness.

Lucius could help but let a barking laugh escape him. "That's what I just said."

Narcissa slapped his arm in response to his cheekiness, but was smiling like a school girl. "Find some onion and garlic cloves and start mincing them for me." Lucius drew out his wand, summoning the needed ingredients and an additional cutting board. He primarily worked in silence beside her, silently following her every command as they got the steak and kidney pie prepared in record time.

* * *

Neither Draco nor Hermione said anything until the Library door had closed and Narcissa's footfalls could no longer be heard. Hermione crossed her arms, with no intentions of speaking to him. If he couldn't say anything nice, she wouldn't talk to him at all.

"Cover your ears." Draco demanded. His tone only earned him a scowl from Hermione though. When she didn't move, he spoke again. "I said cover your ears, Princess."

"Why should I do anything you say?! You've been nothing but a jerk since we got back to the manor on Monday night!" Hermione had leaned forward over the table arms still crossed as she yelled at him.

"Because I'm going to call Crewe and I rather not deal with your one of your panic attacks if I can help it."

"Oh, because I'm a burden? Issat right, then?" Hermione's face grew red from anger and Draco looked at her like she was speaking in tongues. "Go ahead and call the house elf to do your dirty work. Don't bloody worry about me now." She leaned back and looked away to the shelves opposite of the entrance.

"Wha-," He shook his head from the shock of her words and leaned forward. "Who said you were a burden?"

Hermione was slightly taken off guard that he chose not to address her jab at , but didn't let go of her anger. "All of wizarding London hates me, even Theo's dad! Why shouldn't you or your parents consider me to be a-a-" She stuttered as she tried to control her accent from getting any thicker than it had.

"Stop, stop, STOP!" Draco tried to push himself from the table, determined to walk away with the chair stuck to him, but it only confirmed Hermione's theory to be true that the chairs were stuck to the floor. He did, however, successfully push the table into Hermione's arms that were crossed over her chest. Surprise that was quickly followed by guilt crossed over his face. "I-" Hermione was too upset to listen though and shoved the table back at him. Draco barely caught the table, softening the blow to his torso. "Stop! Hermione, I didn't do it on purpose!"

He pushed the table back into the middle only for Hermione to push it back at him. "Sure, you didn't!"

Draco held the table in mild shock again at her attempt to try and hit him again until he decided to push the table off to the side so she could no longer use it as a weapon. "You want to know why I'm bloody pissed with you? It's because of this! After you threw a scene at the restaurant, you tried to hit me! I'm not Potter or Weasley and if I told you not to hit me, DON'T! No one in this manor gives a damn about your blood status anymore so stop with the bloody pity party!" Draco's chest heaved with how heavy he was breathing from yelling at Hermione. Draco hadn't realized the last sentence to be completely true until he said it. Lucius in his own way, _had_ accepted Hermione. It was clear now that he said it out loud.

Hermione could feel her lower lip tremble and hot tears sting her eyes. She wanted to badly to leave and hole herself in her room again, but trying to leave was useless. "You think I'm throwing a pity party? Issat it?" Hermione hated how thick her accent became when she was overwhelmed with emotion. Hermione sniffled and straightened up in her seat. She came to terms by now that she was a crier, but if she was going to cry, she would do it with what little dignity she could. "You think I'm throwing a pity party? Do you know what it's like to be a muggleborn? To never been given a break because you're 'lesser than?'" She made air quotes when she said 'lesser than.' "When my parents went to Diagon Alley last summer, there were Wizards who spat at them, did you know that?" Draco tried to keep his face fixed on the angry expression he already had, but Hermione could see his jaw clench. "You wouldn't would you? You're at the top of the wizard social pyramid! You wouldn't know what it's like to be discriminated against."

Draco could pin point the exact moment where he snapped in her rant. "You don't know anything!" He had never been more mad before, not even Crabbe or Ron had made him this angry. "Yes, I'm a pureblood, but if you don't think the Malfoy name hasn't come with a few negative preconceptions then you're more daft than I thought." The insult made her wince, but he kept going without missing a beat. "Do you remember when we first met? You were looking for Neville's bloody toad on the Hogwart's Express? Well before you started walking around, I did. I met Potter and tried to be friendly, but because I was a _Malfoy _and my family were _Death Eaters_ Weasley cut in so Potter would want nothing to do with me." Hermione's face fell and she looked away, trying to keep herself together. "But my namesake didn't just stop me from making friends. Adults treat me differently, all because my father had been on trial for something that happened before I was born. Teachers who are supposed to be our _guardians_ at Hogwarts, look at me as if _I'm_ an infestation in the castle. So yes, I have been discriminated against and while it may not have been as bad as what you go through-"

"Then why do you act like a prat? Why not prove them wrong?" Hermione looked at him with new tears running down her cheeks, her eyes alive with a new argument.

He leveled his gaze with hers as he leaned back in his seat, one hand propping his chin up, intensifying his stare. "I did at first, but then I quickly realized that people will always think what they want of me. I was taught how to pick my battles and I chose not to fight a losing one." Draco still struggled with this of course, but he was more than aware that knowing where to expel his energy in life was important to achieve whatever goals he hoped to accomplish. Even now, Draco was questioning if putting in the extra effort with Hermione had been a mistake as he found her to be a bigger brat than he was.

Hermione looked down at the floor as she thought about how wrong she was to assume anything about Draco- which was the same thing other people were doing to them. She was completely to blame for the fact they were arguing now and she knew it. _She _was the one who was being unfair- not him. She found him sharing more than what he owed her and she wasn't treating him like a friend.

Neither of them spoke again for almost ten minutes. Draco had settled back into seething quietly and Hermione was unsure how to make things right. When she realized how she may be able to patch up their argument, she spoke, despite her voice croaking. "Draco."

"I don't want to hear any a word from you, Granger."

His voice had a coldness he usually only reserved for Harry and Ron, but she decided to keep talking, despite thinking she deserved the sting that came with her surname. "In first year when Harry, Ron and I were trapped with the three-headed dog, we played music to soothe him to sleep so we could get under the trap door he was guarding." Draco's eyes flicked back to her as he tried to hide his interest in what she was saying. "The trap door led to a pit of Devil's Snare which we barely got out of. After that room, we ended up finding broomsticks which is how we ended up escaping." Hermione didn't dare elaborate that it was only her and Ron who flew out since Harry was left with Professor Quirrell who was Voldemort's proxy at the time.

They sat in silence for a moment, Hermione waiting for a response and Draco wondering if he should respond. When she opened her mouth to talk about how she helped Buckbeak escape, he cut her off. "What was being guarded?"

"Dumbledore made us promise not to tell..." Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. She stared at him for a moment before making the decision to continue. "But it's destroyed now so I suppose it would be all right if I told you... You must promise not to tell anyone-"

Draco raised an eyebrow as he raised up his pinky. "You already had me promise, remember?"

Hermione nodded as a new guilt coiled in her stomach as if she had swallowed Devil's Snare herself. She didn't recall breaking a promise before, but if she had to choose between losing a friend for being too proud or keeping an unimportant promise to Dumbledore, she knew which one she would choose every time. "It was the Sorcerer's Stone. It was destroyed though." Draco had never heard of it before and made a soft grunting noise before falling back into silence. He didn't think she would lie to him about it _now_ but he wasn't so quick to forgive her for pushing him over the edge. Hermione tried to get up again and found that she still couldn't. She sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Draco, can I trust you?"

He scoffed. "The question should be if I can trust you."

"Now you're just saying things." He narrowed his eyes at her, ready to fabricate reasons for his logic, but she held up her hands. "I haven't given you a reason not to trust me, I've just been unpleasant."

Draco stared off to the side, still too annoyed to look at her even though she was giving him the truth he had asked for- even if it was months late. "You've been extremely unpleasant."

She suppressed the urge to huff before she agreed. "Yes. Extremely unpleasant." His eyes flicked to her again, not used to her being compliant or self-abasing. As much as he wanted to be mad at her, he couldn't turn away from the effort she was putting out at the moment. Mostly because his mother made sure of it, but partially because he was interested in where the conversation was headed.

"What do you want?"  
Hermione looked down at her lap where she was already fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. _Lavender mentioned secrets are an important part of friendship, right?_ "I want to tell you the full story on what happened with Buckbeak, but you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone about it. Ever." She bit her lip, half hoping he would decline.

Draco didn't miss how apprehensive she was when talking, which only spiked his curiosity even more. He wondered if Hermione knew how binding promises were for him, but pushed the thought away, reasoning there was no reason why she would know. "I promise, I won't tell anyone. I doubt I can reach you to pinky promise though."

Hermione nodded as she eyed the empty space between them. The library desk he pushed to the side was a proper study table, measuring in at seven feet long- unlike the three foot ones found in the Gryffindor common rooms. "Buckbeak was executed." She said the words out loud and it filled the space around her in a weird way, causing her to pause as she broke another promise to Dumbledore.

Draco wasn't sure what she was playing at and raised an eyebrow at her. "He wasn't, you saved him."

Hermione looked up at him with her large eyes and he knew that he was right to think what she had to say would be interesting. "That was after we used the time turner."

Draco blinked several times before her words settled in. Several emotions hit him at once- the strongest being anger and disbelief- as he laced his fingers over his stomach and sat forward once more. "You broke the law to save a Hippogriff?"

"I had Dumbledore's permission!" Hermione immediately jumped to the defensive side before she took a deep breath, slouching in her seat as she exhaled. "Not just a Hippogriff... Sirius Black, too." Draco thought his eyes would pop out their sockets at the words she said. Draco was at a complete loss for words and made a gesture for her to continue speaking. Even if he had the ability to speak, he wouldn't have as he thought speaking prematurely on such a strong statement would result in her not telling him the full story. Or worse, her not trusting him.

So Hermione told him everything. From the time Sirius dragged Ron into the Whomping Willow to when they saw him off from one of the west towers. Hermione only realized afterwards that it had felt good to talk about it with someone who wasn't Harry or Ron. It was liberating, but she was only elated for a short amount of time as she realized that Draco would probably say she was mad- or worse, he would tell someone about it. Hermione's hands shook as she realized she just unloaded a large secret about a falsely accused felon that she had helped escape- something she now found to be a stupid idea.

"Draco-"

"I think I know why you're friends with them." Draco had put his elbows on his knees to digest what she had said. "When you're placed in life or death situations, it's hard not to build a bond with people. Even if you're not compatible." Draco felt his mother's magic release him and he knew that they were now free to walk around, but he didn't move.

Hermione held her breath until she couldn't anymore and when she finally released it, the question tumbled out of her without hesitation. "You won't tell anyone right?"

Draco made eye contact with her to further cement his answer. "No. If I said anything, even to my parents, it would put Black in more danger."

Hermione nodded, but how he answered caused another question. "So you believe me when I say he's innocent?"

"Oh, yes. He was never a Death Eater although Peter Pettigrew was." There was a silence again, but this time it was Draco who was nervous. _Idiot._

"How-how do you know for certain that Pettigrew was a Death Eater?" Hermione asked the question slowly as she moved her hand from the hem of her shirt to the necklace of a cross she was wearing.

Draco thought he felt sweat prickle at his hairline and used the first excuse that came to mind. "Well father was under the imperius curse when he was forced to serve the- You-Know-Who." He waved a hand and Hermione nodded, recalling the mention of the Death Eater trials of 1981 in Rita Skeeter's articles. "When under the imperius curse, you're still aware of your surroundings and he recalled Pettigrew being present in the meetings. There was no point to bring up a dead man in his defenses, so you won't read that anywhere." Draco thought his lie to be believable, but could see Hermione thinking about the validity of it. Not wanting to give her the time to dwell on it, he stood up. "Mum should have been back with food by now, don't you think?"

Hermione stood up and was visibly relieved to be free of the chair. She grinned from ear to ear and she hugged Draco without giving him a warning. He hesitated hugging her back before he wrapped his arms around her, realizing he himself was relieved they were no longer on bad terms. "I hate fighting with you."

Draco realized then that she _was_ worth the effort he had put in and was just frustrated with her earlier when he questioned her. "Yeah, me too. Although I still say you're the bigger brat."

Hermione looked up at him and gave him a look. "Don't ruin the moment." He chuckled and Hermione felt something shift within her as his chest rumbled against her cheek. It was what she had once felt with Ron and Professor Lockhart- a stirring of a crush beginning to form. _Oh no. _Hermione pulled away immediately and ignored the blush that formed on her cheeks. "Lunch. I'm starting to feel peckish, aren't you?" Hermione didn't wait to hear his reply and started towards the library doors. _Draco is the last person you should have a crush on. It doesn't matter how cute, accepting, or considerate he is!_

_Or trustworthy. You couldn't have trusted Ron or Harry not to tell anyone if the situation was reversed._

Draco quickly caught up to her with how long his legs were compared to hers. He found it odd that she had a blush on her cheeks, but didn't think anything of it other than he liked the color on her, as he walked ahead to hold open the door for Hermione. "You know you would be envied by eighty percent of the school for hexing Snape right?"

Hermione looked stricken before shaking her head. "I'd rather not talk about that. He's going to poison me instead of Neville's toad when we go back to Hogwarts this year."

Draco couldn't help, but chuckle before respecting her privacy on the subject. "Have you started school work assigned for the holiday by any chance?"

Hermione was broken out of her inner monologue and was grateful for it to. "Yes, I'm roughly half was through it."

They had nearly reached the kitchen door now. "Of course you are." He said it with a smirk and she turned to look at him before going into a half-hearted tangent about how he needed to stop bullying her when he opened the door. Perhaps if he hadn't caused Hermione to go into a rant, they would have heard the moans coming from the kitchen before Draco opened the door to witness his mother up on the counter while his father drilled into her.

Draco automatically shoved the door shut before grabbing Hermione's wrist and taking off. He didn't stop running they were in piano room with the door closed behind him. He threw himself onto the bench and worked on repressing the images from his mind. He wasn't sure if Hermione saw what he had, but he was _not_ going to be the one to ask.

Hermione hadn't said a word from the time he grabbed her and ran, until she sat down next to him. Her eyes were just as wide eyes as he was as she was aware of what they had witnessed. "Does that count as a life and death experience if I almost had a heart attack?"

Draco pressed the balls of his hands into his eyes as he threw his head back "Aaaauuuggghhhhh! I'm never eating anything out of that kitchen again!" Hermione couldn't help but collapse into laughter as Draco dramatically vented on how he planned to rid himself of the images of his mother and father soiling the kitchen once he had use of his wand when they went back to Hogwarts.

* * *

Draco didn't know if she was relieved or apprehensive when Crewe delivered the Steak and Kidney pie instead of being summoned to eat with Narcissa and Lucius. He nearly let himself starve until dinner and only ate after much lecturing on Hermione's end, saying 'there are children who are starving' and 'you should never waste food if it can be helped.' When they were summoned for dinner, If Narcissa and Lucius knew that they were caught earlier, they didn't say anything about it while both teens refused to look at either of them throughout the five course meal. Draco had never been more relieved to leave the dinner table that night and had even gave Hermione a quick goodnight after walking up the stairs together.

He decided to try sketching the greenhouses from memory to calm himself, when the door to his bedroom opened. Draco looked over his shoulder to see his father had entered his bedroom and quickly put his quill down to provide his full undivided attention.

Lucius walked over to where Draco sat to see what he was doing and raised an eyebrow at what he saw. His son was talented, but he had expectations on where his son's grades should be. "I hope you haven't fallen behind on your school work, Draco."

Draco motioned to the pile of books on his desk. "Just taking a break, father." It was a lie, but a safe lie.

Lucius nodded his approval before sitting on Draco's bed to face his son. "Very good." There was a pause as he considered how to start the conversation he wanted to have. "Earlier today I had an _epiphany_ of sorts, and I realized I had forgotten to talk to you about something, that is- ah- rather important." Lucius pursed his lips as he looked at the floor before looking at the stack of books on Draco's desk. "You've been looking into the Triwizard Tournament, correct?"

Draco slowly let out the breath he was holding, grateful it was not about the his mother and his father christening the kitchen. "Yes. I was curious about it."

Lucius nodded, deep in thought. "Do you have any intention to enter?"

"No, not at all. I was simply curious about it- I figured why stay one step ahead of what everyone else knows why I can be several."

Lucius gave half of a smile- something that Draco recognized as the biggest show of praise he would get from his father. "Good. Your mother and I wouldn't be too pleased if you were to try." Draco knew this was Lucius' way of saying that Draco better not have thought about entering as he would find a way to stop him. "Have you read about the Yule Ball that happens with every tournament?"

"I've read mention of it and I noticed that Hogwarts wanted us to bring Dress Robes this year." Draco was both interested and annoyed with an idea. Naturally he would be excited to attend such an event, but he already knew the girls at Hogwarts- specifically Pansy- would go wild at the thought of going to a dance.

"I'm glad you're up to speed then." Lucius cleared his throat and Draco was reminded of when his father had spoken to him on winter holiday. He was deep in thought like he was then except this time, he was sitting, which gave Draco the idea that perhaps his father knew what he wanted to say, but was hesitant to say it. "Naturally, when it comes to events like these, you would go with a date... and you are of an age where certain desires may arise. However, there are certain precautions you need to take if you decide to give in to said urges."

Lucius gave his son with a meaningful look as Draco tried not to think about what his father was trying to imply. _He can't be serious._

"Sex, Draco. I'm talking about sex."

_Merlin! _"Ugh, No! We don't have to talk about this-" Draco's face was warm from the heat of his flushed face. He felt as if _he _were the one caught in the kitchen earlier with how embarrassed he felt. "I haven't- Mum wants me to wait till marriage-" Draco didn't know if he wanted to wait till marriage- like all boys his age he had discovered what masturbation was, but he was willing to say anything to make Lucius stop talking. Draco knew that Lucius' was aware of what Draco had saw and that his _epiphany _had come from it.

"Draco, _all_ parents want their children to wait till marriage and in a perfect would, that's exactly what would happen." Lucius enjoyed seeing his son flustered as he found it adorable. "Even I want you to wait till marriage, however, I want to have this conversation with you _in_ _the event_ that you decide not to. It would be preferred not to have any bastard heirs running around. Especially before you are of age where you have yet to fully come into your magic-"

"Father-"

"Enough with the interruptions, Draco. We are having this conversation whether you think you are up to it or not." Lucius's tone was final and Draco nearly wanted to cry from the humiliation. "Now what is the first thing you need to establish before having intercourse with a lady?" Draco's face was stuck in a grimace, thinking that he was in hell, not at all intending to answer his father's question. Lucius was slightly peeved at his son's lack of responsibility, as this _is_ a conversation to be taken seriously- but then a thought struck him on why his son was refusing to answer. "Or gentleman...?"

Draco looked up, debating if he should inch himself to check if this was a nightmare. "Ladies. Only ladies."

Lucius put both hands up. Suppressing a smile so he would not lose the seriousness of the conversation. "I wouldn't have minded, I just need to know if I needed to make another heir-"

Draco placed both hands over his face and gave a groan. Lucius tried to bite down a laugh. He was still riding the high that he and Narcissa were attempting to have more children. _Young ones really are a gift to the world_. When Lucius collected himself, he asked his query again. "What is the first thing you need to establish before you decide to have sex, Draco?"

Draco removed the hands from his face and straightened up, keeping one hand in his hair. "Protection."

"No. Protection is second, but _consent_ is first." While Lucius was talking about how to ask for consent when a partner hasn't said 'yes' or 'no' to the act, Draco couldn't help but think how long the day had been and wondered if Hermione was getting the same talk from his mother.


	30. Calming Draught

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a pain in my ass and I still have mixed feelings on it. I wanted to include Hermione's sex talk, but not only would it have not fit, in my mind I would have imagined she took it very professionally from Narcissa as she would have already had the talk with her own parents. I am considering making a collection though of hidden moments or 'deleted scenes' for my fic. What do you guys think?
> 
> TW: Depression (self hate), and drug use mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Hermione couldn't see Dr. Augsen until the Wednesday before the Gala as Dr. Augsen had taken on other clients in the times she would usually see Hermione. Dr. Augsen thought this would provide Hermione enough time to come to terms with seeing her healer again, but she underestimated Hermione's ability to hold a grudge.

They had been arguing in circles and Andromeda found herself resting her forehead in her hand as the conversation circled once more. "Hermione, I didn't want you to go because I felt you could not handle it-"

"I thought I made it obvious how much this meant for my parents and you decided to mollycoddle me instead of being honest! How was that supposed to help me move forward?! Of course, I wasn't going to want to see you again after Lucius told me the truth."

_On my life, I swear I will murder him one day. _This time when Dr. Augsen spoke, she used a different angle with Hermione. "All right. I get it. You're angry with me because I refused to tell you the truth when I knew how much you cared for the dentistry. Do you want to stop seeing me as a therapist, indefinitely? I can arrange that you'll start over with someone else, if that is your preference."

Hermione stared at Dr. Augsen and her leg bounced while she thought. She wanted to know that her feelings would be respected- she was only angry because she felt betrayed. The thought of starting over with someone else had Hermione wanting to puke. "I never said that." She sounded stiff, and she pushed her chin forward when she spoke. "I just feel like you disregarded my feelings is all."

Dr. Augsen wanted to smile with how she finally got Hermione's attention to shift. "And you have the right to feel that way, as your feelings are valid. I would like to move past this though, so we can talk about more pressing matters- like how you felt about what happened at _Circe's Colander_."

Hermione nodded. "I forgive you, I'm just..." She was frustrated with the lack of vocabulary to describe what she was feeling and looked at her watch. She had been a tad _excited_ with Dr. Augsen and their session was almost over with no progress because of her. Again.

"I wasn't lying when I said I understood, Hermione. You've had a bit of pent-up anger since we last spoke, but I am proud you were able to keep your cool at the restaurant." There was the faintest traces of warmth in her features as she spoke. "Now, how have your flashbacks been? Are they still a rare occurrence?"

"Yes, ma'am. I haven't had one since the last time we met."

"Excellent. What about your panic attacks?"

Hermione thought about that for a moment before answering. "I've had a few here and there. That has gotten better too unless I get too anxious. Then its like a car rolling down a hill with no brake fluid. Sometimes I'm able to pump the brakes in time before the crash, sometimes I can't." Hermione blinked and shook her head. "You know what a car is, right?"

"Yes," Dr. Augsen smiled wide, thinking about her muggle husband and their daughter_._ "When was the last time you had a panic attack?"

Hermione took a minute to think about it. The last awful attack she experienced was after they returned from the restaurant, but her most recent one was yesterday. Narcissa had announced after dinner that she was going to have them practicing how to waltz and Hermione was caught staring at Draco. Thankfully, he thought she was staring at a stain on his shirt and she was able to play it off. Now that she thought about it, feeling anxious about having to dance with Draco is something that contributed to her lengthy argument with Dr. Augsen. She didn't want to go, she was bound to be flustured the whole time at being that close to him when she only just discovered she fancied him. Hermione had hoped that her stirrings of a crush had been a fluke, but they hadn't.

"Hermione?" Dr. Augsen snapped her fingers, bringing Hermione's attention back to her therapist. "I asked when was the last time you had a panic attack?"

"Oh, It was the night we had went to the restaurant. After we got back." Hermione hoped she sounded convincing as she looked to her therapist.

Dr. Augsen's ears started to burn again, hearing the lie. It was the second time in a row that Hermione lied to her and it reminded her of the pending talk they were to have soon about Snape after the gala this Friday. "I see." Andromeda looked at her watch realizing the time. "I have to start heading out." Neither of them spoke until she had put her notebook and quill away, and had stood in front of the chair she occupied. "I'll see you this Saturday. There is a lot we need to catch up on."

"You're not coming to the gala?" Hermione's eyebrows came together, genuinely concerned that the number of reliable people she thought would be attending kept dwindling.

This time, it was Andromeda's turn to lie. "No, it would be too personal for me to attend, let alone Galas not being in my taste. If you need me, owl me."

"Of course." Hermione sighed as Andromeda made her exit. She sat there for a moment, alone before she got up meet Narcissa, and Draco downstairs.

* * *

"Hermione." Theo gave a small nod before holding a hand out for her to take. Narcissa wanted them to dance for the first song while she observed what level of skill they were at with dancing. Hermione took Theo's outstretched hand as she stepped into position; Their arms parallel to the floor with her head tilted to the side. "You have experience dancing?"

"A bit." Her reply was short. Hermione was both delighted she would not be partnered with Draco for the next few hours, but infuriated that it she had to dance with Theo. Narcissa decided that just having Draco and Hermione to teach might have been a bit boring so she invited Blaise, and Pansy as a surprise. Unfortunately, Blaise was spending time with his mother and had not be able to join them at the manor, so Narcissa moved on to Theo. Hermione understood that it would have been unfair to Draco if he was forced to severe a friendship simply because Theo's father did not practice tolerance, but Hermione was unsure where she stood with the English teen as he often made sure to keep his distance with her.

_The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him._ The Bible verse seemed to pop in her head on it's own accord and she remembered that it was one of the few she didn't find to be absolute poppycock. "Do you?"

She thought she already knew the answer but before he could reply, Narcissa straightened up from the gramophone and a soft waltz started to play. Hermione didn't recognize the piece and assumed it was wizard music. "Let's see what you can do. Start with the left box and after you both have a feel for each other, continue the Waltz however you see fit."

Theo and Hermione immediately complied and moved as smooth as a small boat lolling on the waves of a calm sea as they practiced the left box. Even the rising and falling with every step they took was in sync. It was awkward dancing so close to someone she did nor know- someone she was not even convinced fully liked her- but Theo acted as if he had always been as friendly as Blaise. "It's nice to finally have someone our age who can dance at an event." It seemed he spoke too soon though because at the same time he tried to guide her into a whisk, she tried to pull him into a promenade step. He laughed it off after catching her before she fell. There was a snicker from behind and Hermione felt her face heat up from anger.

"Pansy, please pay attention to Draco. I'm afraid you'll rip a hole into his shoe if you continue to step on it like that." Narcissa's tone was unamused and Hermione almost resorted to Pansy's level by not covering up her laugh, but didn't. She was taught that the best revenge was choosing to be the bigger person and it worked for her. Most of the time.

Hermione and Theo fell back into position. This time, Hermione allowed him to whisk her and they repeated the move, getting a feel for each other once more. Hermione found herself getting into the familiarity of dancing with a partner and barely realized she was trying to take charge of their steps until he spoke. "You know I'm the one who is supposed to be leading, right?"

Hermione looked up at Theo and noticed that a mustache was trying to grow at the corner of his lips. "Right." She tried to will herself to relax into his arms and let him dictate their next step, but every time she recognized the next step, her muscles would tense into the move, wanting to lead. Hermione could feel him becoming frustrated, but couldn't imagine it was anything next to what Draco was feeling with Pansy. Every time the half-Indian girl stepped on his foot she would apologize and Draco made a point to ignore the apology. "I thought it was tradition or something for Purebloods to be so..." Her nose scrunched up as she looked for a word that wouldn't come off as offensive. _Archaic? Victorian-esque? Stuck up?_

"Old fashioned?" Theo smiled and Hermione noticed the moderate crowding in his teeth again. She should be grateful that her only issue was buckteeth- something she'd probably never correct unless she wanted to be eighteen with braces. She thought that maybe she could ask Narcissa to shrink them, but didn't want to bother Narcissa more than she already did. "It really depends on the family and of course the competence of the descendants." His eyes glanced behind her and she knew that he was looking at Draco and Pansy behind her. Theo turned so Hermione was able to look over his arm at Pansy. "Purebloods like Pansy were raised from the time she could walk to be the perfect companion for a true gentleman; submissive to every man's desire, always smiling and cheerful, but competitive with other women to be the apple of every man's eye. Unfortunately though, she's clumsy and is too eager to please."

As Theo spoke, Hermione started to stare at Draco instead of Pansy. With the suppressed annoyed expression on his face, she knew that even with Pansy having most of his attention for the next few hours, she wouldn't come close to being anything more than an eyesore in his eyes. Theo spun Hermione and she smiled at the warm sense of relief that ran through her. "What a sad way to live." Theo shrugged and Hermione realized he understood it that she was pitying Pansy's way of life when she was really pitying the lack of competence the people around her had to deal with..

Hermione didn't dare correct him.

* * *

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

The rapping on her bedroom door brought Hermione out of the tranquil state she was in when she played the cello. While Hermione had not agreed to see Dr. Augsen and yelled at the healer when she did eventually see her, Hermione still made time to practice occulemency. Hermione was relentless when it came to magic and dove into the every book that the Malfoy library had to offer. She found the library to not just be expansive in size, but in subjects as well. Even if the library only had one book on a particular topic, Danita Malfoy still failed to provide Hermione with nothing at all. Most of the information she found in the books was repetitive, but she took the little knowledge she learned and combined it with what she did know. Emptying her mind was almost easy while the music and muscle memory carried her through the music she had been playing since she was young, but she was slowly getting better at doing it without playing by imagining music she was familiar with was pushing out her thoughts to create a barrier around her that only she could control from within.

Hermione paused after finishing the note she was on in the allermande of the Bach suite she was playing. "Come in." The rest of the waltz lesson was uneventful and once Narcissa had released them for the rest of the afternoon before supper, Hermione ran back to her room. She did the same after dinner, and hardly talked throughout the meal to avoid interacting with Pansy as much as possible. She had not expected for even Draco to extend an invitation to hang out with her Slytherin classmates so she was surprised to see Theo's dark head pop into her room. "Oh, hullo."

He gave a polite nod. "Good evening, Hermione." He stood in her doorway, hands in his pocket as he stared at her. Hermione found he looked both anxious and relaxed as he had his hair down, but he was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I hope I wasn't interrupting you." He nodded his chin to her cello this time and she gently shook her head.

"Not really, did you need something? You're not lost, are you?"

Theo laughed. "Oh no, I wanted to talk to you." Hermione wasn't alarmed that Theo had been nice to her today, but that didn't mean she was completely comfortable with him yet. "May I?" He took a hand out of his pocket to gesture to the desk chair in front of her.

Hermione hesitated, but then remembered she was trying to follow Narcissa's footsteps in being polite. "Yes." Theo sat, removing his other hand from his pocket so he could rest his elbows on to his knees. "I didn't know you could play the Cello." Theo reached out a hand to stroke the strings of the cello and Hermione quickly lifted the cello over her leg to place it on her bed. As far as she was concerned, no one but her had the right to touch her father's cello, even though she knew the instrument to be far from fragile. She was afraid her aversion may have been obvious to him, so she immediately turned back to Theo with a smile before crossing her ankles in an effort to seem polite.

"There isn't exactly an orchestra at Hogwarts, you know?" She didn't think that the music rooms were common knowledge since she had never heard of them and wanted to keep it that way. She found it to be a safe haven that she shared with Draco.

When Theo laughed she relaxed knowing he had not taken offense. "No there isn't..." Theo's smile dimmed and he glanced at the door. When he turned back to her, the smile was completely gone. "I, um." He took a moment to clear his throat. "I wanted to apologize for what happened at the restaurant. My father can be an asshole and you didn't deserve that."

Hermione looked down at her hands that were in her lap. On one hand, she was against hearing anyone call their parents something so crass, but she was found herself in agreement with Theo at calling Nott, Sr. an asshole. She was still angry with how she was treated and _he_ was the one who set her up. On the other hand, Hemione was upset that she was letting what had happened still bother her. "It's fine. I'd be lying if I haven't been treated poorly before."

"By people our age. Not by adults."

Hermione's lips twisted as she thought about he outburst with Draco in the Library where she admitted how her parents were mistreated in Diagon Alley. "No, adults too." Hermione heaved a heavy sigh before looking back up at him. "It's all right. I'll just avoid your father at the gala."

"I don't know if he's still invited." Theo had a muddled expression on his face, unsure of what to make of Hermione's reaction. "You're really unbothered?"

"It's complicated, but that's what therapy is for." Hermione laughed and Theo joined in with an awkward laugh himself before looking down at his hands.

"Well, I thought you would be much more angry with me and I thought I would need a peace offering to smooth things over." Theo leaned to one side and stretched out his leg to dig into his pocket. When he pulled out his hand, he held a small vial with green liquid that was half the size of the ones she usually got from Dr. Augsen.

Hermione barely noticed the saliva that her filled her mouth as she stared at the vial in his hand. "Is that-"

"Calming draught? It is." She missed the smug tone he adopted, but forced herself to look at his face. "How did you get that? That's supposed to be prescribed." Hermione bit her lip as she looked back to the vial. It was a generous offering. Hermione had looked into calming draught- partially to find out how difficult it was to brew- after the last time she had it and understood why Arthur Weasley had been against her taking it. Even in the _Wizard's News_ and _Toil and Trouble_ magazines it was listed in the top ten most addictive wizard concoctions. Countless wizards had found their ruin in it and she found herself lucky that she hardly had any access to the drug.

"Isn't there a muggle saying about a magician never revealing their secrets?" Theo gave her a boyish grin, but cross her arms and raise an eyebrow- something she could herself doing more thanks to the Malfoys. His smile faltered and he tipped the vial upside down, then right side up again. "My father takes them sometimes. It helps with the nightmares he still gets from when my mother passed."

Theo's confession caught Hermione completely off guard and her hands dropped to her lap. Her voice was much softer now, feeling her own heart open up at the mention of someone else losing a mother. "I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"It happened long ago." Theo turned around to put the vial on the desk. "I figured you might have been prescribed it too at one point and Draco has mentioned that sometimes you have these attacks-" Theo waved a hand in the air and she could tell that while he may have been thoughtful in regards to her well being, but he didn't fully grasp what she was going through. "And I thought it may help if you took it at the gala. Completely mellow you out as the better half of Wizard London will be present."

Hermione nodded, completely grateful for the gift as the thought of the gala made her want to vomit her dinner. "Thank you."

They sat in silence for a few breaths before he stood. "Don't mention it, Granger." He walked towards the door and had just placed a hand on the handle when she spoke again.

"Hermione." She smiled up at him. "Call me, Hermione. And Theo?"

"Yes?" He placed one hand in his pocket, before looking back at her. She was studying the green vial and he felt himself tense, wondering if she could spot the difference between regular calming draught and diluted calming drought. His father said that even a potion's master shouldn't have been able to tell the difference, but Theo was more than aware of his father's ego sometimes clouded his thinking

"You shouldn't call your father such nasty things. Sometimes parents are... assholes, but sometimes they're all you got, you know?" Hermione's voice wavered, but her gaze was fierce. "Perhaps as their children we should work on changing their views?" She wasn't sure if she bought what she was trying to sell, but she had unknowingly done it in regards to her future.

Theo pretended to consider her words. "You're right, Hermione. Good night." He closed the door, almost feeling bad for what he had done. _Even after her parent's death, she's still a good person. _Theo let himself out into the hallway from her suite, but this time he kept the door handle turned as to not make any noise to anyone who may have been nearby. "What a shame."

"What's a shame?"

Theo nearly dropped to the floor in his fright. He turned to see Draco standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest. "Draco, I didn't see you there- was I gone that long?"

Draco decided not to answer and instead narrowed his eyes. "Why were you in Hermione's room?"

"I was apologizing to her about the events at _Circe's Colander_." As Theo's heart rate started to slow, his voice returned to it's usual coldness.

"Why didn't you tell Pansy and I that instead of making up some excuse about going back to your room for something?"

"I didn't think Pansy would understand." Theo straightened as he rebuffed Draco's question. "You do know how she can be."

Draco was silent for a moment before excepting the question. "I do, and that's exactly why I ditched her after you left me alone with her."

Theo gave a barking laughter as Draco grinned, pleased that he could make his friend laugh. "Let's go find her before she wakes all the sleeping portraits, shall we?" Both teens walked down the hallway, neither of giving a second thought about Hermione.

* * *

Hermione woke up several times during the night as she hadn't taken her dreamless sleep draught. Remembering how it had messed with her stomach last time she had drank it, she thought that maybe two night without the dreamless draught might offset any negative side effects. She felt guilty for plotting to drink the potion, but she couldn't deny she missed how she felt when taking calming draught. It was like all of her problems had gone away or they couldn't touch her in the perfect bubble the draught kept her in. Her plan was to drink the calming draught _if_\- and only if- she felt too anxious at the gala. Hermione even told herself she could only take a sip and if it was potent enough, she could make the draught stretch for as long as it could.

This was what she told herself before she woke up one last time from a nightmare that had her screaming herself awake. The beating of her heart only softened as she sat awake in bed, hugging her legs, but it did not slow down. She was too scared to try to go back to sleep and seeing that it was already morning, she decided to get ready for the day. Her hands and legs trembled as she picked out her clothes before showering and they did not stop, an hour later after her bath.

She had been twirling her wand to help calm her nerves before heading downstairs for breakfast, when her eyes landed on the drawer of the desk. Her wand wasn't helping her calm down and Hermione wondered if it would hurt to take a sip of the calming potion _now_ just to help ease into the day. _Get a grip!_ She turned away trying to remember what she had been thinking about, but she couldn't get the thought of how much better she would feel if she would have drank it now.

Before she could stop herself, she found her hand in the drawer, bringing the vial to her face for a close look at it. Hermione tipped the glass vial to the side. This calming draught seemed to shimmer and the logical part of Hermione told her not to drink all of it as it may have been tampered with, but Hermione thought of how kind and sincere Theo had been in his apology last night that she dismissed the thoughts as nerves. She found herself licking her lips as she worked at the cork on the bottle, her mouth watering at the thought of the tranquil high she was going to experience. _I think after everything, a little treat wouldn't be a bad thing. _After a brief struggle, the cork was released with a _pop_! If she was thinking straight, she may have realized that it was a sign it was home-brewed.

Hermione didn't taste the difference until after she had swallowed. At first, it tasted just as sweet as the calming draught, but once she swallowed, the bitter after taste was like stomach acid in her mouth. "Eugh!" She stuck her tongue out and even the air she breathed tasted foul. Hermione ran into the bathroom to drink a handful of water from the faucet. Panic started to hit her and she looked at the vial she still had clutched in her grasp. There was something that reassembled a worm at the bottom of it and she clutched her throat at the thought of being poisoned. She looked into the mirror at her reflection to see if anything else had changed and she gasped seeing that one pupil was dilated to the point that only the smallest bit of brown from her iris circled it. Hermione placed a hand to her face and watched the other pupil dilate to the same size. By the time the black had finished expanding though, she no longer felt scared or like she needed to tell Narcissa that she made a mistake. She felt _good. _Hermione put her elbows on the counter, holding her head in her hands. She turned her head left and right before dissolving into giggles.

"Conceited are we?" The mirror teased and Hermione stuck out her tongue in response. "Oh, how rude." Hermione laughed and walked out of the bathroom.

The sight before her stopped her in her tracks. She wondered if she had been transported into another world as everything seemed so vibrant over the rose gold tint she saw everything though. She took a step forward on the tips of her toes, almost afraid she would disrupt the world she had found herself in. Hermione paused making sure her vision wasn't destroyed by her movement. Seeing that nothing had disrupted the vibrant colors that filled her vision, she decided she wanted to look at everything with the new eyes her sober self had been missing. The first place she thought would be a good start was her closet and she was not disappointed. Hermione gasped as she looked at the side of of the closest that had all of her Muggle clothing. Every piece of clothing was covered in an aura that hummed with what she could only describe as power until she felt something inside of her recognize it.

Magic. Hermione was looking at magic. She closed her eyes like she did when she meditated and thought she could feel her own magical core resonating with what was in front of her. It was a wonderful and beautiful feeling that brought a joyful smile to Hermione's face as she felt her soul harmonizing with the magic within her. It warmed her and should couldn't remember the last time she felt so accepted in the world around her and it was only desreupted when her inquisitive nature squirmed through her high; _Why are all of my clothes charmed?_

Her eyes snapped open as she lifted the sleeve of a jumper. She ran her other hand down its length and the magic almost rippled at her touch. She grinned as a confidence built within her. She felt completely in tune to the magic part of her and it was a feeling like no other. Hermione knew that she shouldn't use her magic without her wand, but whenever she wanted an answer, she stopped at nothing to get it. Plus the possibility of magic being so malleable was too tempting for her to resist.

"_Finite." _Hermione saw her own magic- a blue shimmering, slithering thing- rush from her hand and over the jumper, stripping it of the magic that it was once encased in. She watched her jumper grow several sizes and was confused at what had happened. Hermione grabbed the pant leg of the jeans hanging behind the Jumper, wondering if her idea would work. "_Prior Incantato_." Hermione nearly cooed while watching the brightest hues of the charm before come together to spell _Reducio_ in a script she vaguely recognized, but was unsure where she saw it before. "Who would shrink my cloth-"

Hermione looked down at the vial she was still holding to see that the worm in the vial had transformed into a creature that could almost be mistaken for a fairy. The creature was as green as the draught had been and almost looked like a distant cousin of the pixies that Lockhart had let loose in class her second year. The pixie had four eyes instead of two with a red underbelly instead of a white one. It's wings were thin and it's legs looked like they belonged on a rabbit. It was angrily pounding its feet against the glass, making the softest tapping noise while it spoke in whatever it's native language was. "Oh, hold on!" Hermione looped a finger into the the lip of the vial as she whispered "_Engorgio."_ The spell worked and the pixie climbed out, before flying into the air. "Wait!"

Emerging from the slightly dark closet, Hermione was once again hit with the lights in her room. This time though, she noticed that some of the furniture seemed to be warped and the walls looked as if they were breathing. She wasn't scared like she would have been sober, and figured whatever she drank _had_ been mixed with calming draught or something like it. Regardless, she did not stay to take in the hallucinations around her and chased after the pixie.

The flying creature did not slow, but Hermione was determined not to lose sight of it. She ran down the rest of the hallway, deeper than she had gone before. There were colors everywhere she dared to look, and noticed that every portrait she passed, had a silver sheen to it. After turning several corners, the pixie brought her to a hidden set of stairs- not just leading to the first floor of the manor, but also leading to the third. She realized only then that she had never seen a set of stairs leading up to the third floor and she slowed to a stop as between the two paths to figure out which way the winged-creature went.

She approached the fork in her path, eyeing each one as the hallucinations warped her vision. The stairs leading up started to tilt and slant, looking as if she would have trouble keeping her balance if she chose to ascend the staircase, while the path leading to the first floor seemed to stretch out for miles, but there were tinkling lights down below. Hermione wished she could split herself in half at that moment as both seemed to promise an adventure- pixie or no pixie.

"You shouldn't be here." Hermione looked to her left and saw a portrait of Danita Malfoy fanning herself. "If Lucius or Narcissa were to find you here, they'll be very cross."

"But why?" Hermione paused as she took in the feeling of her vocal cords vibrating in her throat. It was a very nice feeling that made her want to sing so she did not have to stop. She didn't though as she was in the middle of conversation and the still sane art of her thought it would have been rude. "I'm not in the West Wing, am I?" Hermione shook her head then, meaning to dismiss the question she just asked, but it only brought her attention to the bouncing her curls. She took a lock in her hand and ran her finger though it, loving how soft they were now that she had learned how to properly care for her hair. "Can you tell me which way the green pixie went?"

Danita's head tilted to the side. "Pixie? There was no pixie here."

Hermione wrinkled her nose in thought. "Can portraits not see well? It would be hard to miss- it's this lime green thing that flew through the air. I know it went this way..." Hermione looked at the staircase and this time, the stairs going upstairs were alternating colors between navy, violet and orange while the stairs leading downstairs were all different shapes and sizes. "Oh my."

"You're not usually insulting or scatterbrained- Are you feeling all right?" Danita stopped fanning herself and placed a hand on the frame she was in, as if she were leaning against a glass window. Hermione automatically took a step back, having the sense to keep her eyes hidden in case Danita ran to Lucius or Narcissa about her state.

"Ah-" Hermione tried to think of an excuse or something at all to say, but at that moment, the virescent pixie-like creature reappeared in the stairwell leading to the first floor, waving a fist as it chittered what she imagined were obscenities. "There you are!" She grinned as she clomped down the stairs after the creature. Hermione watched each stare as she stepped and she noticed the more she focused on what she was doing, the more it seemed to shift back to normal. She knew she should have been mad at Theo for tricking her, but she she understood why people did drugs. It was a _literal_ escape and she was having such a good time chasing the pixie into the gardens that she forgot Lucius had forbade her and Draco from going into the gardens until the gala was over. The cloths that were twisted with knots and magic from the decorators created such a unique escape that she found herself laughing as she ran to the open field of the outer gardens. She was in such a positive mood that she didn't think she would ever be in a bad one again- Until that moment, that is.

Hermione had noticed a flash of red as she ran, and looked down to see it coming from her ring. At first, she was enchanted by the lights bouncing off of it, and she thought she saw diamond encrusted sun beams spinning. She wondered if she ever thanked her parents for the gift before remembering, she couldn't and that she received the gift after they died. Before her eyes, she saw the ruby of the ring chip and blood started to pour out of it, covering her hand. She eld her hand away from her and screamed as the world around her had turned to gray. Hermione looked around for help and realized realized that she was completely alone- no creature in sight. She turned around to return to the manor- finally remembering that she was supposed to be with Theo, Pansy, and Draco.

When Hermione turned around though, she saw a figure standing in the middle of the path leading back to the manor. A figure in a black bowler hat and a trench coat.

Hermione closed her eyes and pinched herself, hoping it was a nightmare she was trapped in, but she felt the pain and when she opened her eyes, the figure started to walk towards her. She felt her legs take over and she ran to the greenhouses but when she neared the trees, the same figure emerged from the thicket and she stopped so quickly, her feet flew in front of her as she slammed rear first on to the ground. The figure walked towards her at a hurried pace and she scrambled backwards on her hands before the sense hit her to get up- only to see an enormous snake slithering towards her in the path she just came from.

The oddest thing about being petrified by a basilisk was never forgetting what it looked like, but not being able to describe it. Even with the nightmares she occasionally had of it, Hermione was at a loss for words on how to descibe even the sound of the hissing she heard the day she was attacked. There was no other place for Hermione to run, but she continued to back away from the man and the snake, completely unable to stop the scream that ripped threw her throat as she was cornered into the foliage of the maze.

* * *

"What do you mean she wasn't in her room?" Draco looked up from Pansy's round face to his mother.

Narcissa had one hand on her hip and the other in the air as she spoke to Crewe. "Ma'am, Crewe did not find the young misses. The young miss was not in her suite, her room, nor her bathroom-"

"Ask Lucius to locate her." She waved a hand dismissing Crewe stopping him from continuing. Draco could tell his mother was annoyed with Hermione and he felt himself growing to be a bit irked himself. All of yesterday afternoon, Draco would glance at Theo with a jealous eye- not just because Hermione was a better dancer than Pansy, but because it was _Hermione_. His heart sank a little when she was paired with Theo as he was used to having her attention since they returned to the manor. She made him feel comfortable. At least that's what he told himself was the cause his stomach coiling and the burning in his chest from watching her waltz with Theo was from.

Pansy tightened her latch on to Draco's arm to pull him in closer. Draco made a face before looking up at Theo, who was sitting by Narcissa in a chair she had conjured, for help. Theo gave a smug smile as he shrugged a shoulder, meriting a glare from Draco, before Draco readjusted Pansy's hold on him.

Narcissa looked down at Theo, who was slouching in his chair. "Usually she's very punctual. I'm sure she's simply not feeling well and has hidden herself, but I'll make sure she apologizes to you for the inconvenience."

Theo straightened up when Narcissa addressed him, showing she had his attention. "It's no secret what she has been through, Ma'am. Father still struggles with getting out of bed some days himself."

Narcissa forced a smile for Theo. _It's amazing how a bastard like Nott is capable of raising such a pleasant child. I wonder if his son still would have turned out so well if Theo knew the real reason he doesn't have a mother. _"Draco, switch with Theo." Pansy groaned as she circled her arms around, partially for having to continue with Theo and partially from feeling the burn of holding her arms up. Narcissa raised an eyebrow at Pansy's lack of manners, but said nothing as she changed moved the needle of the gramophone to a slower track.

Narcissa watched the two dance for a song before taking a step forward to intervene, providing Pansy with a correction. She stopped mid-sentence when she heard something that resembled a scream in the distance. Theo and Pansy didn't seem to hear anything so she continued her critique before returning to the spot she had occupied on the wall by the chair Draco now sat in. "You heard that, too?" Draco, who had been staring at his mother since he heard the scream, nodded. "Go find your father and find out what he's doing. He hasn't sent Crewe back so I imagine he's helping him. I'll stay with our guests in the mean time."

With out so much as a backwards glance to his mother or his friends, Draco was off, leaving Narcissa with a sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched the two Slytherins dance. Narcissa tilted her said to the side, noting that Pansy had greatly improved after Draco left and she had to dance with Theo.

* * *

"_Mudblood."_

_"Coward."_

_"Filthy."_

_"Useless."_

_"Insufferable."_

_"Your fault."_

Hermione sat in the middle of the maze's hallway, gripping her head trying to make the voices to stop. The voices were from all different wizards, and memories. Some were male, some were female. Some were Lucius, some were Snape, and others Molly. Some were never said by the people her brain mocked and some were. The voices started after she entered the maze to escaped her monstrous delusions, but the potion she drank was not as forgiving as she hoped. Instead of stopping completely, her hallucinations changed form.

Hermione didn't know how long she sat there, fighting with her head. She was just grateful that in the frantic state she was in, she had forced the magic of the hedge to the side to allowing her to seek solace in the maze. Hermione vaguely processed that the calming draught had worn off as she descended into a panic attack that left her hearing voices- something that had never happened before.

When she started to come back down from the panic and felt like she was able to control her thoughts again, she looked at her surroundings. She was back to seeing the hues and ripple of magic all around her, but she no longer felt open to it after what she had just ran from. She felt betrayed almost and shied away from the magic she could see. The walls of the hedges shimmered and glowed with the layers upon layers of spells, enchantments, and charms that were so thick, they spanned almost an entire foot away from the foliage. Hermione walked down the middle, lest she be tempted by the drug to interact with the magic again, or worse, be chased again by her fears.

_This might not work a second time- Draco said Narcissa and Lucius rearranged the maze._

_That doesn't mean that I can't get out of here by following the left wall!_

_Yes, but did you forget again that magic exists and can cancel muggle logic?!_

Hermione stopped in her tracks, one hand on her knees, the other over her heart. She took the moment to make sure the internal argument she was having were her own voices. She didn't know what to trust anymore, and she wanted the effects of the tampered draught to stop.

"Meeeeeooooooooww."

Hermione put her hands over her face in frustration. "Great. I miss Crookshanks so much I'm imagining _his_ voice now." She had almost forgotten what Crookshanks had sounded like as she had not seen him in almost a full week. The cat had disappeared one day when she let him out for a hunt, but had not been able to look for him in the yard. Hermione knew he often dissappeared on campus, but worried that he would not be able to navigate the Malfoy's estate.

"Meeeeeeeeeoooooowww." She felt something brush against her ankle and she jumped back to see her orange hairball of a cat staring at her.

She let out a scream before scooping him up and into her arms. "Please tell me you're real!" Hermione buried her crying face into Crookshanks fur, happy with the familiar feel of his coarse hair on her cheek. After a moment though, he squirmed to fight her grasp before leaping out of her arms. He stayed to circle his legs as she scratched under his chin. Crookshanks purred like the motor on a boat and after a few minutes, Hermione felt much more grounded.

Crookshanks seemed to sense this and circled her ankles once more before walking down a maze corridor. After a few steps, he looked back at her and meowed, almost as if coaxing her to follow. She wasted no time following him with a grin on her tear streaked face. "You know the way out, don't you?" Seeing her familiar alive and well, Hermione wouldn't have put it past her half-kneazle to be able to survive the maze just fine and thought it was in her best interest to follow him. It was either that or risk staying in one spot, hoping that she was found be Lucius or Narcissa before some_thing_ found her instead.

They walked in silence and soon after they started the trek, Crookshanks stopped checking to see if she was following. When Hermione took the next left, and found herself in a familiar clearing, she couldn't help but let out another delighted cry at seeing that she had been right in her cat being intelligent as he had led her back to the Sphinx.

The Sphinx lifted her head from her front paws she was laying on when she heard the foliage behind Hermione close. "Crookshankssss," She purred, "you have brought a guest." The creature smiled and despite Hermione feeling hopeful that she was near the exist, a shiver ran down her spine looking at the sharp incisors. The Sphinx's nose twitched and Hermione didn't need to take a Care of Magical Creatures course to know that the XXXX ranked beast was smelling her scent. "Tell me child, why is it that you only visit me when you're inebriated?"

Hermione hadn't expected a warm greeting, but she downright despised the point that was made about her. Her parents would be disappointed that she chose drugs over a sober mind and Hermione was already regretting ever drinking the potion. Hermione crossed her arms and focused on the Sphinx so the creature's body would not move around like everything else in Hermione's unfocused vision. "I'm not a child, I'm a teenager, you know."

The Sphinx gave a deep chuckle as she stretched in downward dog, then upward dog before walking to where Hermione and Crookshanks stood, her Lion's tail flicking behind her. "When I was brought into this world, it was a time long before the word 'teenager' was coined. You are a child until you turn seventeen in my eyes, and I will address you as such until then." When the Sphinx was in front of Hermione, she sat and Hermione didn't miss the how she could easily be crushed with one paw. "You did not answer my question."

Hermione thought about an answer, but all she had was the truth. "I don't mean to only visit you when I've taken something."

"And yet, here you are. But it's not just calming draught, is it?" The creature slid into Sphinx pose as she spoke to Hermione, her usually mystic features were filled with curiosity. "I smell something almost bitter, like mushrooms grown over barley."

Hermione's lips pressed into a thin line, and she felt sweat start to prickle on her brow. "I don't know."

The Sphinx's head cocked to the side and her perfectly straight hair seemed to shimmer with movement. Hermione blinked several times, as the hallucinogen in her body had her see snakes instead of strands of hair before her eyes refocused. "You were drugged?"

_Did that count as me being drugged if I willingly took it without knowing what it was? Does the blame solely fall on me since I know that drugs are bad? _"I drank the potion, thinking it was just calming draught, but it was mixed with something else."

"Ahhhhhh," The sound the Sphinx made was backed by a soft purr. " I suppose you can stay with me until you are of a sober mind again. I imagine the scream I heard was from you?"

Hermione bit her lip as she thought of her vision going black and white while she was running away from the man and the basilisk she saw outside. Her responsible side that was emerging with every passing minute said she needed to go back to the manor to deal with her consequences, but the part of her that was scared of suffering from another bad delusion found herself nodding to the Sphinx. "Thank you, for letting me stay."

The Sphinx grinned from ear to ear before standing. "Any friend of Crookshanks is a friend of mine." The half-kneazle gave a disgruntled meow and the Sphinx snickered. "Come, you need water." The Sphinx led Hermione to a hand pump well that was seated to the side of a large trough for the Sphinx to drink out of. There was another, more circular trough next to it that had dried blood caked deeo into the cement and Hermione didn't to ask that was where the Sphinx's meals appeared. She didn't remember seeing this the last time she had been in the maze, but she blamed it on the fact she as scared for her life while high on calming draught. Hermione reached out to dip a cupped hand into the trough filled with the shimmering water, but the Sphinx stopped her. "Put your hand under the pump, don't ever drink from still water."

Hermione followed the Sphinx's instruction and cupped two hands under the opening of the well. With one toe, the Sphinx pumped the well and water soon rushed into Hermione's palms. She hadn't realized how parched she was until that moment and moaned when the water filled her cotton mouth. She gulped down the water and soon her belly was full to the where she could feel the water slosh inside of her if she moved too quickly. Hermione put some of the water on her face and on the back of her neck, now aware that she was feeling rather warm.

When Hermione straitened, she looked at the hedge in front of her- or rather the magic in front of her. The colors were translucent instead of vibrant now but if she squinted her eyes and unfocused them, the hues brightened up again. Hermione tilted her head up and wondered what exactly she was on that allowed her to see the cocoon of colors over the greenery. "Do you miss Egypt?"

The Sphinx followed Hermione's gaze, wondering what the teen was looking at. "You think I'm from Egypt?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she looked at the Sphinx. "If you're as old as you claim, I would imagine that's where you came from."

The Sphinx chuckled. "Amazing how you can keep your wits about you, I wonder if they stopped making drugs as potent as they used to." Hermione didn't know how to respond to that so she didn't. "The only thing I miss more than the sand between my toes and the sun on my back is the feeling of flying through Egypt's sky. I fear that if I ever get out of here, I'd leap into the air and fall faster than Icarus as I would have forgotten how to beat my wings."

Hermione tried placing herself in the Sphinx's shoes and she imagined herself being trapped in a cage where she wasn't able to walk or fully stretch out her legs. She remembered the Sphinx had mentioned to her before that she had been in the maze for at least ten years and could not help but feel pity for the beast. _She's surrounded by green foliage, but the space is obviously enchanted... I wonder..._

Gathering up her courage to interact with the magic, Hermione stood in front of the wall closest to her. She placed her hands in front of her and gently pushed it through so it was in the middle of all the layers that spanned from yellow, to purple and brown. Trying to cast _Prior Incantato _on each layer was going to be more taxing and time consuming than useful, so she tried a spell she had not had the chance of using before now. "_Specialis Revelio_."

The air in front of her quivered as her magic twisted into the mound of spells ahead of her, forcing each one to reveal its incantation. She quickly looked for one that may have controlled the environment of the area she was in. _Capacious extremis? No, although I wonder if I could make the ceiling high enough for her to fly? I shouldn't risk it. Colloportus et Dissendium? Perhaps I could just let myself out... Focus, Hermione! _Hermione took a deep breath before continuing her search. Several lines down, she found what she was looking for and found herself thankful for having to study Latin at her primary school: _Gramineo terram, circumferentiam Hedge, Aeris XXI celsius..._

Hermione hesitated. She thought about casting _Meteolojinx Recanto _to completely dislodge the ward, but knew that wards and charms this complex had the tendency to work off of each other. As much as she wanted to free the Sphinx, she didn't want to risk releasing anything else that may not have been as kind or as sentient like the Sphinx. Draco was right to want to release the maze's inhabitants slowly after making sure they could survive in the wild, so she drew in a deep breath to prepare herself to manipulate the conditions rather than tear down a ward she only had general book knowledge of.

"What are you doing, child?" Hermione looked over her shoulder to see the Sphinx had her head completely cocked to the side, the same way Crookshanks did when he was curious about something. Hermione didn't answer, but instead closed her eyes as she placed her hands over the words she wants to change.

It wasn't easy. Hermione know it would have been difficult _if_ it even worked, but she underestimated how hard it would be. At first she tried to imagine the grass beneath her simply turning into the copper sands she saw in photographs of Egypt before learning simple intent would not be enough to manage this wandlessly. Hermione took a deep breath before thinking of a memory of her and her parents on Brighton Beach. She focused less on what William and Jean were doing, and more of the feel of the dry sand beneath her. Squishy and solid, but much more fluid than grass. When she felt the pressure of her weight on the ground shift from her transfiguration being successful, she focused on remembering how bright the sun was. She thought of how it burned her skin before she had the chance to apply sunscreen, with the wind being her only source to ease the intense summer heat. Hermione took a deep breath as she imagined herself on that beach, completely alone with nothing but sand in front of her or behind her, wanting and willing the conditions to be where she was now.

When Hermione opened her eyes, she grinned, satisfied with her work. The field looked as if they really were in a desert and the sun relentlessly beat down on them, no longer in the shade of the Maze's greenery. It was only when she took a step back and collapse a second time on to her rear to look over the room did she realize how drained she was.

The Sphinx's head appeared over Hermione, completely blocking out the sun. "Perhaps I should not call you a child." Hermione laughed and it made her aware of how light headed she felt. Her stomach twisted as she remembered how bad her situation was and how she was going to be in copious amounts of trouble when she got back to the manor. _No, this was Theo's doing. I'll just have to tell Narcissa the whole truth._ Hermione's stomach objected to the idea as she thought that she would have to admit she willingly drank from the vial. _How did I become to such a rotten person? _"You are troubled. What's on your mind?"

Hermione felt Crookshanks curl on her side as a tear slid from her eye and into her hair that was already filled with sand. Hermione didn't want to talk about her failures to an ancient creature as she was sure the Sphinx would take Draco's side in claiming she threw pity parties- and Hermione couldn't a reason to disagree with them, even as she wallowed in her despair. "Do you believe in God?" It was a question she had not thought about in a long time, but while questioning what led her to this moment in her life, she couldn't help but question a higher power a second time. The first time she questioned a God was several years into primary school when she tried to tell her parents about all the miracles she learned about in school. They were excited to see her so animated, but quickly shared their idea that they didn't believe he existed. It was the first time she had locked herself in a library, pouring over books from different religions until she came to the conclusion that her parents were right, and religion was rubbish.

There was a pause, then an eruption of laughter from the Sphinx. Hermione fought the urge to cover her nose at the smell of the Sphinx's hot, coppery breath and waited for a reply. She was slightly offended that she was being laughed at, but was too tired to hold on to a trivial grudge. "What a question to ask a Sphinx! I have not been asked that in so long."

Hermione wiped at the sweat on her forehead. Perhaps she made the clearing _too_ hot. "But you have considered it?"

"Every creature has." Hermione couldn't make out the Sphinx's features, but she thought that something had crossed her face. "Here." The Sphinx turned away and Hermione was left with the sun beaming straight into her eyes before it was blocked again. For a second Hermione thought she had succumbed to hallucinations again until she realized the rainbow in front of her were actually _feathers._

After her heart rate slowed down, Hermione reached a had out to the feathers, but even with the Sphinx laying down next to her, the coverts were too far out of reach. "These- Your wings! They're magnificent." Her question completely forgotten, Hermione looked across the plumage in front of her with a dopey expression. The over wing had tan and white flowers, she would have never thought such a range of colors to be hidden in the under wing. The erudite in her wondered about the uses in potions, how suitable the feather would be if used as a quill-

"It's one of the main reasons why my kind is nearly extinct." Hermione's guilty conscience almost had her apologize for the thoughts she had been having, but knew even in her loopy state- it would have made the conversation awkward. "The human desire their need to industrialize or conquer everything in sight has crippled the globe and its inhabitants." There was a gruffness in the Sphinx's voice that made Hermione wonder again how exactly a dangerous creature ended up in the maze. Sphinx's were witty and at the top of the food chain- in combination to what the fearsome creature just said, it was obvious something terrible landed her in the Malfoy's possesions. _She shouldn't be here, she's just just as human as us! She has thoughts and feelings- she should be free!_ Hermione vaguely remembered the Sphinx mentioning she was bound by magic and Hermione wondered if it was anything like being a house elf.

When she opened her mouth to ask the Sphinx about her past, there was a swish of a spell soaring through the air before sand was thrown over Hermione. She rolled to her feet as the Sphinx's lion roar filled her ears. Due to Hermione being weak, she had to stumble over to the well to stay upright. She barely noticed that she couldn't see the magic around her anymore- although she could still feel it- before her eyes settled on Lucius Malfoy sending hex after hex at the Sphinx with Crookshanks nowhere to be found. The Sphinx was obviously scared and Hermione did not find it to be unlike the abused tigers at a circus. "STOP! You're hurting her! _STOP_!" The last word came out as a shreik, but she felt like she was losing the competition to be heard.

At the sound of her voice, Lucius shot a glance in Hermione's direction. She watched as his already pointed features sharpened with the rage that consumed his face. He didn't stop, but the frequency in spells hitting the Sphinx slowed as he crossed to where Hermione stood. "Why are you-"

Lucius snarled before roughly grabbing Hermione's arm and pulling her to his side. "Get us out of here, Crewe."

Hermione hadn't noticed that Crewe had been hovering by side until he made a sound of affirmation. Hermione had never apparated before and was surprised to feel the jerk behind her navel before she ended up in the foyer manor with a pissed off Lucius. The sensation left her dry heaving with a cramping stomach. With Lucius being fine, she imagined that he was either used to apperation or the mix of the tampered draught, the dehydration _and_ the swirling of warping from the maze to the manor had taken a toll on her.

"Are you done having your fun?" Hermione tried to force herself to breath properly to control her urge to vomit. She ended up on her hands and knees, coughing up phlem and sand. "Because if you are, I would love to know what goes through that curly little head of yours. Do you find it amusing to throw the kindness Narcissa and I have shown you back in our faces?" Hermione felt, more than saw Lucius pacing back and forth. "You disappear for hours, worrying my wife so you can go gallivanting with a _Sphinx_? Tell me Hermione, do you have a death wish?" Hermione forced herself to swallow whatever bile that was building in her mouth before looking up at Lucius. When she did, Narcissa and Draco walked into the foyer followed closely by a grinning Pansy and a shocked Theo. Hermione imagined she looked like a mess, being covered in sand, but she couldn't stop the death glare she gave Theo. _This is all your fault._ "Your little act, tirade, whatever you want to call it needs to stop and it needs to stop now- Look at me Hermione," She snapped her gaze away from Theo's to see Lucius was nearly bent over in front of her. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir-"

"I said, do I make myself clear?"

Hermione sat up, but did not stand as her legs felt like gelatin. She made a motion in Theo's direction, ready to tell Lucius her side of things. "This isn't my-"

"Fault? WHO'S FAULT COULD IT BE?" Hermione sucked in a breath as she stared at Lucius. The only other adult who ever spoke to her like that was Snape, and it reaffirmed her guilt in being a terrible child.

Narcissa, seeing the shocked look on Hermione's face, crossed the room and whispered to Lucius. "Pansy and Theo are watching, dear. Mind your tongue."

While she sat in her shock and fear, Hermione thought again about how she would sound saying Theo had given her a drug. Lucius was already livid with her, but the bottom line was, _she_ took it. Theo didn't force it down her throat and she thought it would only any punishments she would endure, worse. Hermione could feel the familiar burn of tears in her eyes and throat when she realized what she was going to do.

"You're right." Using the table beside her, she pushed herself up to her feet. Her legs shook, but as she caught Theos eye again, she used the anger she had for him to keep her on her feet.

"What did you say?" Lucius, who was pink in the face, looked completed taken aback by her declaration.

"I said, 'you're right.' I've been a right brat. It's insulting to you both and I plan on proving how sorry I am by being better." Hermione looked up at Lucius with watery eyes. _This isn't fair._ "Can I go to my room, please?"

Lucius made a noise like he was going to say something, but Narcissa dismissed Hermione before he could say anything else. "Go."

Hermione turned and immediately started to head for the stairs. The stomach pain she had was growing worse, but she climbed up the stairs, not even bothering to look at anyone else as she did. Her pride was wounded, but she was more than upset about it.

For the third time in her life, Hermione wanted revenge.

* * *

"Theo you're such a pig!" Pansy pushed a laughing Theo off of Draco's bed, but he didn't stop laughing. Draco was hardly paying attention to the conversation anymore, too engrossed in his thoughts. Something wasn't right and it bothered him- Hermione didn't give heated glares without being provoked and she wanted to know why they were pointed at Theo. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Then go, don't bloody announce it!" Theo retorted as Pansy stood. She flicked him off before starting to walk towards Draco's bathroom, but he would be damned to let an opportunity to question Theo pass him by.

"Pansy, use the bathroom in your guest room."

"But my room is so far!" Pansy let her hands slap against her sides and Draco for once fought the urge to be rude to her.

"And I'm asking as your host to please make the trip. My bathroom is a mess and I'd be embarrassed if you were to see it." Draco almost saw Pansy melt before him at the sweet tone she used.

"Okay." Her voice was breathy and she nearly skipped to the door after Draco used his pleasant voice.

"You think she's in love with you, mate?" Theo chuckled before taking his former seat on the bed. Draco didn't say anything until five seconds after Pansy's footsteps could no longer be heard.

"So I've been meaning to ask, what did you talk to Hermione about last night?"

"I thought I told you I was apologizing for my father's actions at the restaurant."

"That's it?" Draco uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. "Nothing else?" Draco liked Theo, but as the months went on, he found that he was having to look over small things he didn't agree with- things like calling Blaise a faggot, making statements about women that were creepy to the point it made _Draco_ uncomfortable and being more cruel to the first years than any other Slytherin found necessary. Draco _especially_ didn't like how Theo had snickered when Hermione ran out of the restaurant- a detail everyone else seemed to miss.

"Huh? No." Draco took a deep breath as anger bubbled in his throat recognizing Theo's tell. He always stalled when he needed to think of a lie or remember a lie he had told. "Don't look at me like that, Draco. I was making peace with the mudbl-"

"I don't like that word being used to describe Hermione." Theo narrowed his eyes at Draco, not sure if he was hearing his friend correctly.

"Right." Theo's voice was completely flat and Draco knew he wasn't being taken seriously. It only doubled Draco's anger as it was one of his pet peeves. He felt like he should be treated with enough respect to only have to say something once- it was the same respect he gave to people! In a way. He only allowed his mistakes to be caught once, but he acted how he saw fit when they weren't looking.

Draco smiled and held out a hand as if to shake Theo's hand. When Theo grabbed his palm though, Draco pulled it towards him so his arm was fully extended and twisted it inwards till it wouldn't anymore without his wrist breaking. "Ahhh!" Theo leaned forward with his arm, trying to relieve some pressure, but Draco used the new position as leverage to place his other arm on Theo's back.

"In the beginning of the year, I told every Slytherin to stay off of her as she's as much of a friend as you are, Theo, so don't think you were excluded from that warning. If I discover that she was insulted or harmed in anyway that you made her feel like she needed to skip out on my mother today-"

"I didn't fucking do anything! Let go of me!"

Draco started at the back of his friend who was gently, but frantically tugging to get his hand back. Sense seemed to hit him then and he leg go, leaving Theo to fall to the floor after failing to regain his balance. Draco started to feel guilty, but reminded himself that there was a reason he acted how he did and if Theo didn't act any less suspicious, he would do it again, but the next time he _would_ break his wrist. "I have a salve to help numb the pain."

Draco didn't wait for a reply before going into his bathroom to retrieve the numbing salve. Before he could return to the room though, he heard the door close. When Draco returned to his bedroom though, it was empty. Draco didn't like the taste it left in his mouth and couldn't help but think that he hoped he made the right decision giving Theo the benefit of the doubt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ALRIGHT, the next update will be the night of the gala. I'm expecting it to end up being around 2 or 3 chapters along with me drawing out some of their costumes (I plan on posting a flickr link for y'all to see) so it may take me a bit, thank you in advance for your patience *heart emoji* After the gala, I do want to let you guys know I am considering taking a hiatus (only a month or two at most) from posting. Stuff is going on in my personal life and I only want to give you guys quality. If I have to take a break to do that, I will.
> 
> Waltz Song: La Valse de L'amour by Patrick Doyle https://youtu.be/xAJIMBqlGWo
> 
> Cello Suite Hermione was playing: Mischa Maisky plays Bach Cello Suite No.1 in G (full) https://youtu.be/mGQLXRTl3Z0
> 
> I feel like this would be more her style rather than Yo-Yo Ma.


	31. The Gala (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello all.  
It's nearly been a month and I want to thank you all for being so patient because I did not intend for this to take that long. While I was writing these chapters, two things had happened. I had a friend who was near and dear to me pass. It was a death that shook a lot of people, including me. I said this before, and I'll say it again. I may be busy, but if you ever have negative or harmful thoughts, message me. I'm here and I will listen.  
Another thing that happened was the Death of George Floyd. This was also something that has greatly affected me, not just because I live in the USA, but because I am a POC. I fear something like that happening to me every time I leave my home. It's also something that I have as a theme in my fic (Pureblood vs. Muggleborn) BECAUSE it's such a big deal to me. I will expand on this in the third chapter's A/N so please read that too before you read the chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Coming out/ Homophobia
> 
> Basta, basta: Stop, stop.
> 
> Sei pazzo: You are Crazy.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

_Draco grabbed two apples off of the fruit baskets hanging from the ceiling before turning around to face Hermione. She was sitting on the kitchen counter at the Granger's house, swinging her legs in the air beneath her. He handed her an apple and her soft fingers brushed against his. She bit into the fruit and_ _he leaned his hip against the counter as he watched her. She was wearing the black dress that she wore when they first had dinner at the manor together and he didn't know why he ever made fun of her for wearing it before, as he liked how she looked in it very much._

_Hermione placed a finger on his chest and he barely had the chance to process that he was wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans when he looked down before she ran her finger up, flicking his nose in the process. "Kids used to do that to me in primary school. I used to go into a bloody rage every time."_

_"I can see why, it's annoying." He rubbed his pointed nose before taking a small bite of his apple as he tried to remember how he ended up in muggle attire. "Do you know why I'm dressed like a muggle, by any chance?"_

_Hermione shrugged a shoulder. "'Cause you felt like it, I suppose."_

_He scrunched his nose in thought, "That can't be right. I don't own any muggle clothing." He looked around the kitchen. It was the same as the last time he had been there and he frowned. _Why am I here again?

_"Well, don't ask me why you're wearing it then. I don't know everything." Hermione stopped kicking her legs and put her free hand behind her to prop herself on it. "Plus there's nothing wrong with anything that's muggle."_

_Draco gave her a once over; starting from her curly head and freckled face, all the way down to her legs. _Is the dress shorter than what I remembered it to be? _Draco shook his head- determined _not _to think about what was up her skirt again. He scoffed, processing wh at she said. "Yeah, except-"_

_"Except what?" She pulled her leg back for a straight kick, but he dodged right and pinned her thigh down with his free hand- putting him right between her legs. Hermione sat up straight so she was at his height and only inches from his face. "_I'm _muggleborn, you know."_

_Draco felt something tickle his stomach in the weirdest way and imagined that the feeling were what butterflies in your stomach_ _felt like. "I know." He recognized her challenge though and grabbed the back of her knees to pull her closer in an attempt to startle her. It worked and she flailed her arms, nearly dropping her apple until she decided not to grab on to the counter, but on to him_ _for support._

_Hermione had her face in his shoulder and an arm wrapped around his neck. This was when he was supposed to say something snarky and intimidating, but once her hips had come close enough that he could feel her body heat his brain turned off as he became hyper aware of how they were positioned and it didn't help that she always smelled so enticing either. Every sense but taste was filled with Hermione- but they were so close he thought_ _he could taste her breath when she straightened up and looked into his eyes. She didn't pull back to keep a respectable distance nor did she take her arm off of his shoulder. His eye lids drooped until they were half open and his lips parted on their own accord. __Draco should've been scared that he was in such a trance-like state but instead he felt... calm._ This feels right.

_"You don't mind?" He knew she was asking if he had minded her being muggleborn but Draco was distracted by Hermione's rosy lips to the point his head was tilted to the side. He looked up at her eyes and saw that they were searching his face, but they kept coming back to his lips._

_He couldn't help but smirk as he wet his lips and placed the back of his fingers in the middle of her chest, right over her heart. "Your heart is racing." Draco knew somewhere deep down he was just looking for reassurance that she felt the same as he did. His own heart was pounding so hard, he thought it would burst._

_Hermione blinked her long, dark eyelashes several times as she straightened up even more and scooted to the end of the counter so her body was flushed against his. He stood still, allowing her to make the move of putting her hand on his face. When she raised her chin though, he was the one who brushed his nose against hers. _What was I supposed to do? Oh, right, ask permission.

_Draco put one hand over the one she had on his cheek as he opened his mouth, but was surprised that they no longer felt soft. _That's not right. _He pulled back to look down at her hands to see her fingers were elongated, wrinkly, and spotted. He looked up at her, but to his shock he saw her face had completely changed- her eyes five times as large and they were gray instead of brown. She had one long ear and-_

"Young master."

Draco pushed himself away from Crewe who had his face as close as a house elf could get it- so close that the tips of their noses had touched. "Dob-Crewe what the bloody hell are you doing here?!" Draco's heart was racing even faster than it had in the dream. He understood why Hermione had wanted to murder him when he had scared her the same way in the infirmary and made a note to make it up to her when he could.

"The young master asked Crewe to wake him last night. Is Crewe in trouble? Did he displease the young master?" The house elf whimpered at the thought of needing to punish himself and Draco turned his alarm back to the elf.

"No, no! Don't hurt yourself." The house elf had wrung his remaining ear in both of his hands, ready to pull himself into the four poster bed to smash his knotted head into it. "You can go, Crewe."

The house elf cowered and disapperated. Draco sat there for a moment, his mind still reeling with the images from his dream. He places a hand over his heart, remembering how he had done so to Hermione. _Everything had felt so real_. He thought he could still imagine the taste of the sweet apple on his lips and he still felt the butterflies in his stomach and-

His crotch was wet.

Draco pulled his now stained green silk sheets back to confirm what he already knew, but was dreading to confirm: He had a wet dream that starred Hermione Granger.

_"You don't mind?"_

Her low and breathy question from his dream flitted through his conscious, making him want to groan. He couldn't think of her like that- not that he did mind where she came from. That had already been established, but thinking of her like that... Hearts racing... On the kitchen counter like his mother and father-

_What is wrong with me?_ Draco got up and waddled to the bathroom for a cold shower. He tried not to think of the dream, and tried to remember the real life Hermione. _I can't think of her like that, we bloody live together! _Draco thought of how fierce and rough Hermione was instead of how girlish or flirty she was in his dream. _Except she does giggle and tease me regularly..._ Draco rubbed the shampoo more roughly into his head, as if he could squeeze the images out. _But she's not relaxed. _He felt a sadness pour into his chest at that and he held on to it as he tipped his head back into the water, to wash the soap suds out of his hair. _Yes, even Potty and Weasel must be aware she's riddled with anxiety- the two Hermione's aren't the same..._ He ran his pale fingers though his hair to make sure the concoction was rinsed out before moving on to Conditioner. The sadness he felt of how plagued Hermione's mind was the one thing that finally chased his butterflies temporarily off. Draco knew then that there wasn't a lot he wouldn't do for Hermione to experience that type of relaxation but he thought she deserved it as much as anyone else.

Draco made his shower quick before stepping out and getting dressed. He had asked Crewe to wake him at an early hour after he discovered Theo had left last night so he could talk to Hermione and figure out what exactly had happened yesterday. He intended to do that, but needed to actually get out of his room before anyone else arrived for the day.

When he got to her suite's door he knocked. He didn't expect to hear a response so he let himself in and walked to her bedroom door. He knocked again and was only half surprised when he did not hear anything at all. Draco pressed his ear gently to the door to get a clue on if Hermione sleeping or playing, but Instead he heard a groan that sounded like she was in immense pain. "Come in!" Her invitation was followed by a gasp and another groan.

Draco opened the door and saw that her bed covers had been dragged off of her bed, leading into her bathroom that had its light on. He quickly walked to the bathroom's doorway and saw Hermione doubled over, clutching her stomach, in front of her toilet.

"Shite, Hermione." Through the curtain of curls that stuck to her face from sweat and tears, he could see her face was completely red when she looked up at him.

Draco took a step forward before turning towards her counter in search of a hair tie. He started to look through her drawers until he remembered she had a vanity in her room that probably had exactly what she needed to keep the hair off of her face. When he located a hair tie, he went back into the bathroom and pulled all of her hair back in one fist. She was now taking deep breaths through her mouth and he felt bad when he realized he had no clue how to tie her hair up.

"Her-Hermione, I don't know how to-" His sentence was cut short when she pulled forward to stick her head back into the toilet bowl and dry heaved once before vomiting. He never let go of her hair and watched as she pounded the side of the ceramic bowl with a fist every time her body involuntarily seized to throw up whatever contents had been left in her stomach.

She spat twice before a cramp clench her inside again. Hermione moaned and chastised herself once more for taking the calming draught. She had went though this last time when Madam Pomfrey gave her the potion and she felt this was deserved for dabbling with the potion. _I'll never touch it again, just please stop! _The cramp released and she breathed a haggard sigh of relief when it did. She was mildly aware of Draco bent over her, but couldn't find herself to care too much as she was borderline lucid between being drained and dehydrated. "My mom used to hold my hair back when I was sick." After wiping her mouth on the skirt of her night gown, she sat there a moment before reaching up to take her hair from Draco's hand.

Draco didn't know what to say to the mention of her mother and gave a nod before holding up the hair tie he had. "I can get mother-"

"No!" Hermione looked up at him and his eyebrows came even more close together as fear settled on to her face. He had seen Hermione experience nearly every emotion, but seldom saw her genuinely scared. She didn't even exhibit fear when going head-to-head with his father most of the time so he internally immediately conceded to her request.

"All right." Relief crossed her features and he found himself tucking a curl she missed behind her ear to comfort her. Draco felt his face warm up at the gesture, and was happy she had closed her eyes so she couldn't see his slight blush. He was especially thankful that she had no way to tell that the butterflies had returned to his stomach. _She looks like she crawled out of a rubbish bin, you just saw her throw up and you _STILL _can't get over your dream? Seriously, Draco. _He cleared his throat, deciding to bring up exactly why he was in her bedroom so early in the morning. "I won't get mother if you tell me what exactly happened yesterday."

Hermione opened her eyes and stared directly at him. Brown clashed with Gray as she jumped to the defensive before deciding it would be better to back down. She straightened up, confident that her body was done vomiting- although her stomach still ached from the stress it had been put under- before flushing the contents of the toilet. "You Slytherins never do something for nothing, huh?"

Draco wasn't sure if he should be offended or not, but disregarded the abrasiveness in her tone. If he wanted to be upset with her, she was bound to give him plenty of opportunities when there weren't other pressing matters. "Like you would have told me outright if I were to ask."

Hermione felt a wry smile spread on her lips. How did he know her as well as Ron and Harry? She knew he was sly, but she hadn't expected him to be so observant. "Probably not." She spat into the toilet again before she closed the lid and flushed the chunks away. Hermione sat on the floor with her head in her hands. It may have looked like she was reserving her strength before getting on with the day, but she was really buying time debating on what to say.

"Muuuuuuuum..." Draco cupped a hand to the side of his mouth, as he mockingly called out to Narcissa, causing Hermione pulled an arm back as if she was going to slap his leg before a smile broke out on her face.

"You're so annoying!"

Draco was the first to laugh as he faked dodging her blow. She soon joined in and Hermione felt something that was both light and heavy settle over them as she looked up at Draco to see he was staring at her with his usual smoldering grey eyes. Hermione felt her insides flip as she realized how he tried to balance being serious and being a goof. Following that thought, she reminded herself of the last time they argued and how she didn't want to keep anything from him, just like she tried not to keep anything from Harry and Ron. However, she was aware that Draco did have the habit of being in the center of a scene if he wanted to be, and knew she needed to be careful when explaining what had happened yesterday. "I trust you, but I need you to promise me you won't freak out, Draco"

Draco raised an eyebrow at her but nodded. "Alright." _What did she manage to get herself into now?_

Hermione took a deep breath through her mouth to speak before thrusting her pinky forward as a last minute precaution. He made a show of rolling his eyes to help her feel better as he twisted his pinky around hers. Draco tried to ignore the butterflies that buzzed with excitement at how soft her skin was. "Two nights ago, Theo approached me in my bedroom." Draco drew back from her at hearing his friend being brought up. _Bastard._ "Ow, Draco-"

Draco didn't notice his pinky had ended up crushing hers to the point the joint popped. "Ah- I didn't notice-"

"It's okay." He watched her hug her knees to her chest before she continued. "He gave me... Calming draught." She stared at the bathroom door leading to her bedroom and she heard Draco sit on the lid of the toilet, already picking up that it was going to be a long story. "Except it wasn't really calming draught. Not really."

* * *

_"Oh, Fudge, you sly dog!"_

Rita Skeeter walked around her past self that was currently sitting in a memory that she saved in her pensive. It was her third time watching the memory, and she _loathed_ that she was unable to interact with her surroundings to do her snooping so she was stuck having the same memories repeat while she looked around the room. Even then, she met with another limit of the pensive that made her want to pull out the follicles she paid a pretty penny for in hair transplantation procedures: Pensives only picked up what the viewer saw. Granted the scope increased tenfold as it picked up _everything_ that even the subconscious registered, but it was not in great detail. Rita liked to think that she was getting around the limitation by always looking at her surroundings when she went somewhere, but she just ended up running into another obstacle where things would become muddied and less detailed the closer she tried to look at them. For example, the paperwork she tried to examine on Fudge's desk as her past self had an extra hand up her skirt was completely blurry, save for the title.

"_Fudge, oh my-_" Rita spared a glance over her shoulder at her past self before rolling her eyes and turning back to the desk. _I really do know how to put on a show. _Rita's nose twitched as she saw something that was the only thing she had found so far that had been linked to the Malfoys: the invitation to the gala.

Or at least she thought it was. Again, her past self stopped her from confirming a hunch and she sighed. _I should give up. This was just a stupid, little inking anyway._ Rita barely moved when her memory self was thrown on to the desk. She remembered feeling surprised that Fudge was still able to lift that much weight and seeing as she was reliving this memory a fourth time, she barely blinked when the wine bottle settled behind the invitation fell to the floor.

"_Wingardium Leviosa._"

"_Just leave it-_"

"_This was a gift, Rita, just let me put it away so we can... get back to our _meeting_._ _Ohh ho ho_."

Rita almost let the rest of the memory play until she had the idea that maybe the bottle had been a gift from the Malfoys and held a clue. It was unlikely, but she was not ashamed to grasp at straws before admitting that she was wrong. Rita looked at the label before Fudge was able to put store the bottle and her self-writing quill wrote down what she saw.

_Figures_, she thought bitterly as she waited in the corner of the office for the memory to end. _I would look at the label of the drawer but not the content of his drawer._ Rita looked down at the paper from her notebook: her only lead that would justify the amount sleuthing she planned on doing tonight at the gala.

Not that she needed the justification to sleep well at night.

* * *

Hermione had to stop Draco twice from going into Theo's room to beat his housemate bloody and he felt he may try to get past her a third time.

"I'm not going to hurt him, Hermione. I just want to talk." Draco's tongue tingled like it usually did when he lied, but he ignored it as he tried to squash his anger from showing more than it already has. He looked down at the cuff of his shirt to straighten it instead of looking at her.

"What a load of rubbish! And what happened to you promising you wouldn't say anything?" Hermione stood in the door way of her bedroom, arms spread wide and her hair wild.

Why _did I promise that?_ His jaw ached with how hard he had been grounding his teeth. "I questioned him last night if he had anything to do with what had happened to you and he lied to me. I don't need to bring up why I plan on smashing his face into the imported mahogany-"

"_Draco, please._" Hermione was trying hard not to regret telling him the truth, but as usual, she found him making it difficult for her. "I'll be making sure Theo gets what he deserves when we get back to Hogwarts, but I rather just focus on getting through tonight first so I can try to narrow down what I drank until then."

Draco couldn't stop the conniving smirk from showing up on his face. "You want revenge?"

Hermione paused for a second in slight disbelief. _That's what stops him in his tracks_? She couldn't stop herself from thinking she had an odd taste in men as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Theo crossed a line." _Even if I am to blame, what he did was... _Hermione thought about what was a substantial, archaic word Lucius would use that would fit how she felt. _Despicable. Yes,_ she decided, _that word perfectly describes him._

Draco smirk broke out into a full grin. "I'd ask if Gryffindors were supposed to be the 'good guys' but they're also supposed to be brawny duffers and it's obvious you're neither a duffer or a brute."

Hermione's jaw dropped as Draco clutched his sides in laughter at her expression. "That's a back-handed compliment. Draco Lucius Mal-"

"Is Draco here?" Hermione took a step back to see Narcissa had entered the suite and was being followed by a smiling Blaise. "We had checked his room first, but he obviously wasn't there."

Draco joined Hermione by leaning against the door frame. Blaise stepped around Narcissa and greeted Hermione by kissing both of her cheeks. Draco was no longer laughing and seemed to be boring holes into his Italian friend's face remembering the "joke" Blaise left in Draco's leather coin purse. He didn't find the tease of one of his friends forging a cheesily written love letter addressed to Hermione from him to be amusing at all and was only sorry that he hadn't caught it sooner. Blaise, knowing why he was getting a deadly glare from the blonde, didn't even bat an eyelash as he maintained a cool composure as he spoke to Hermione. "Good morning, Hermione. Good morning, Draco."

Hermione opened her mouth to greet him but Draco completely cut her off. "Blaise."

Draco's greeting had a warning in it that had Narcissa narrowing her eyes. "Draco, I am so happy to have finally found you." Narcissa didn't sound tickled at all, but no one dared to question it. "The designer is here and is wanting to get you into your costume first as it is the most complex. Breakfast is already waiting for you down stairs so hurry up- and you should head downstairs too, Hermione."

"Yes, ma'am." They all exited the suite at once, and broke off in pairs. Draco and Hermione headed downstairs to the kitchen while Narcissa escorted Blaise to his guest room.

At the same time Draco glanced at Hermione, she spoke. "Please don't say anything to Theo. I don't know if he knows I used the calming draught and I may be able to use that in my favor."

Draco's grin returned as anger melted seeing she was serious about it getting back at Theo. He always knew there was more to her than her reputation, but was still surprised to find how much he enjoyed seeing a new facet to her- especially since Draco never pinned her to be the revenge type. "All right, but I want in."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "In what?"

"I want to help you get revenge on Theo." At her dumbfounded look he shrugged a shoulder before walking down the stairs. "It'll be fun."

"He was your friend not even twenty-four hours ago and you're ready to betray him? Do you know what 'loyalty' is?" Hermione gave Draco a look that said she was only half teasing.

Draco paused mid-way on the stairs and she paused as well. "Theo was more of an... acquaintance or an ally if you want me to be completely honest." Draco wasn't being completely honest though. He felt himself storing the hurt he felt after giving Theo so many chances. He could hear Lucius whispering in his head why Malfoys didn't make friends and had wanted to punch something for being so blind. "He's not like you or Blaise. Even if he was a friend, the keyword in your sentence was '_was_'. He's pissed me off more than once this year and the last straw was him lying to me last night." Hermione had never seen him so worked up before and she could see that Draco may have actually cared for Theo more than he let on. "And loyalty is a Hufflepuff trait, not a Slytherin one." He started walking again, but Hermione couldn't help but smile at his tough guy act. _He's completely full of it! _Hermione let out a small laugh as she rushed down the rest of the stairs after him.

"And if I said I wanted to do this on my own?" Hermione caught up to him and leaned forward with her hands behind her back. In her own way she was coming off just as haughty and she couldn't help but smile as he raised an eyebrow at her. _Two can play this game._

"Then I'll run into his room and beat him before he has the chance to get up." Draco's face said that he wasn't just waiting for her to call his bluff- but to welcome it. "Have you ever even successfully sought vengeance on someone?"

"I..." Hermione stopped to think for a second about anytime she had actually plotted long-term against someone, but could only think of two people- Clara and Alfie Darling. The brother and sister who threatened her out of placing in the national cello competition. Thinking of them still set a fire in Hermione's belly, but she knew it was unlikely she would ever see them again, so she let the anger go as soon as it came. "I left to attend Hogwarts before I could get back at them."

Draco didn't stop the satisfied smirk from settling on his face. "It only makes sense to have someone experienced then-" The door to the kitchen opened before they had approach it. _Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear._

"Good morning, Hermione." Theo gave a friendly nod in her direction before he gave Draco a scathing once over. "Draco." Hermione's fists automatically clenched and she had to mentally count down from ten to calm herself down. _Not here, and not now._

"Morning, mate. How's the arm?" Hermione almost missed the huff of air exiting Theo's nostrils as he brushed past Draco's shoulder without saying another word. She didn't know what that was about, but with the delighted twinkle in Draco's eye, she figured he knew.

"I'll think about accepting help." Hermione couldn't help the giggle she made or the butterflies that fluttered in her chest seeing the determined glint in his eye. She had been given the same look before by Harry and Ron, but getting it from Draco was even more exciting as she knew he was going to do everything he could to convince her otherwise.

* * *

"Your costume is obnoxious." Blaise had just finished getting dressed in Draco's room while Draco sat in his desk chair, already in costume.

"Mine is obnoxious?" Draco pointed a thumb at his chest. He was covered neck to toe in black, but was quite fond of the costume despite how drastic it was- although he _did_ admit to himself he had always liked the flair of being dramatic. Draco had been hesitant to wear the corset vest, but found he rather liked the support it gave, especially since the cloak he wore was a mix of dragon bones- which weighed quite a few stone- and glistening pheasant feathers. The bones had been colored a light gray and they encircled the vest to create the look of a rib cage. The leather of the vest was genuine, but Draco was having a hard time pinning what animal it was from as it was too light and breathable to be dragon leather. The pheasant feathers gave a beetle like shimmer in the light and it seemed to match the jewels inlaid in the platinum bident he would carry around. "Where are the rest of your clothes?" Draco motioned at Blaise's body with one hand while the other laid on his thigh.

"Right here." Blaise looked at his reflection one last time before pivoting on his heel and exiting the bathroom. His arms were outstretched, to show himself off to Draco. The Italian wore a gold shendyt that had royal blue trim and nothing other than gold jewelry to match. There was a lot of jewelry, but Blaise was still more or less completely exposed. Blaise walked to the edge of the bed and slipped on the last piece of his costume that he had resting on Draco's bed: A jackal head, complete with a matching blue and gold Pharaoh headdress. "How do I look?"

Blaise had always been a thin boy, but was now starting to grow his pecs and had defining oblique lines around his abs. Draco's upper body looked similar - although his chest wasn't as meaty- but standing next to his half naked friend while fully clothed had him second guess his costume. "You look like a prick." Draco grumbled before crossing his arms. Blaise didn't pay Draco any mind as he continued to make sure every piece of jewelry was laying properly on his chest. "I'm surprised you didn't dress up as cupid or something with that letter you wrote-"

"_Cazzo_! Are we back to that again?" Blaise spoke with both hands in the air this time. "And the god you're thinking of is named Eros. He was my first choice until mother pointed out how unimaginative dressing up like a Greek god is." Draco was momentarily distracted by the Jackal head that seemed to mimic Blaise's eyes and facial expressions that he hadn't processes the insult at first.

When Draco processed Blaise's harsh words, he visibly bristled. "My father has spent a lot of money hiring the best designer _in the world_ and you dare insult his taste?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. He could never take Draco seriously when he decided to let his entitlement show- especially when he used it to displace where his true feelings lied. "_Basta, basta_! Think about what I said and you'll understand that is not what I meant at all." Draco sat, staring at Blaise with a hard look, but said nothing. Blaise turned his attention to the waist band of the sapphire and gold shendyt. "The simple fact that you haven't dropped the subject of the fake letter just proves that I am right that you have a crush on her. You wouldn't be so bothered by it otherwise-"

"That's a ridiculous assumption!" Draco told himself that the slight flush in his cheeks was from his annoyance with Blaise. "I don't-"

Blaise mimicked Draco's macho stance and crossed his arms over his chest. "Then you have no issues with me asking her as my date for the night?"

Draco froze on the spot and resisted the urge to shake his head from thinking he didn't hear Blaise correctly. His disturbed feelings on the moving jackal mask gave way to the frustration he already felt as he found it difficult to read if Blaise was serious or not. "What?" _He's just trying to bait me again and have me confess something that isn't true._

"My mother has been bothering me about finding a girlfriend and I thought it would be best to keep up appearances if I asked Hermione to be my date tonight."

Draco scratched the back of his head before looking away and at his bed. He thought of the silk sheets he had ruined earlier and was thankful that Crewe had changed the sheets sometime during the day. "Why don't you just tell your mother?"

Blaise gave a humorless laugh and Draco's chest seemed to tighten, realizing he may have struck a nerve with his dark Italian friend. Blaise was usually blase about things and always tried to find a reason to smile with dark topics. For Blaise to skip the antics and go straight to cynical was a red flag signaling an unpleasant conversation. "_You_ want _me_ to tell my _very_ Italian, very _traditional_ mother that she won't ever have grandchildren? The same mother who murders her husbands once she tires of them? _Sei pazzo_ \- Think what she would do to _me_, Draco." Draco jumped to his feet as his friend seemed to unwind before him. He had only seen Blaise like this once before- the night they actually started to be friendly with each other- when he was panicking over the same exact thing. Blaise had hid hands gripping the sides of the mask and is breathing became more shallow. "She would disown me-"

"You're her son, Blaise-"

"You don't understand-" Blaise pulled off the jackal head and Draco walked over to his friend, wondering if he should hug him as Blaise head a hand to his face, his features pulled into a mournful expression. Draco decided not to and made to shove his hands into his pockets before remembering that the costume didn't have pockets for him to do that. "What if she hates me? Says I'm an abomination and just completely rejects me like my bastard father did-"

"Blaise," Draco took a deep breath before looking up at his ceiling. "I don't know your mother, but if she did anything like kick you out, you could come here." Blaise shuddered taking in a deep breath before looking at Draco. He was unsure what to say for once and waited for Draco to look back down at him. "You shouldn't have to be afraid of being yourself around your par- mother and I doubt my parents would mind. We have the space and-" Draco thought about _the talk_ he and his father had the other night where he questioned Draco's sexuality. "I think they would be just as accepting as I am with you." Draco was somewhat going on a limb as his parents would _absolutely_ mind someone living with them as they were very private people, but with a manor as big as theirs they could still be discreet on holidays. "I know you don't talk about your father much, but... it was his mistake to leave. You're bloody awesome and he ought to know he's missing out big time, mate."

They stood in an uncomfortable silence until Blaise threw his arms around Draco, releasing a sob. Draco returned the gesture and patted Blaise on his back of his shoulder a couple times as Blaise regained his composure. They were both men of few words when it came to emotions but the hug had communicated everything that was unsaid. They understood each other and Draco felt he was learning a lesson of what to look for in people between Blaise and Theo.

After they broke apart, Draco opened his mouth to say that asking Hermione to the gala was a bad idea, but realized that despite his stomach dropping and the churning of his stomach, he didn't have a real reason to tell Blaise 'no'- especially seeing how important this was to Blaise. "I don't want to seem insensitive, but she should know the real reason why you're asking. If she ended up, I don't know, gaining feelings for you after tonight it would just hurt her." Draco told himself it would be good if she had someone attached to her for the night in case Theo tried something else, but for some reason he was now dreading seeing her on someone else's arm- not that he had any intention of asking her to the gala, even with them wearing matching costumes. Draco suppressed the urge to vomit when he talked about Hermione gaining feelings for Blaise and Draco once again cursed his father for insisting they had the sex talk.

"Yeah, I suppose that'd be fair." Blaise's shoulders slumped in thought before he put the mask back on.

_Crack!_

Crewe apparated into Draco's room, which caused Blaise to jump in surprise. "Young Master and guest, everyone is gathering downstairs and your presence has been requested.

"We will join them soon, Crewe." Before Crewe could bow and fully disapperate, Draco had his bident in his hand and they were leaving his bedroom.

They had reached the stairs at the same time as Hermione and Draco stopped so abruptly that Blaise lightly bumped into him.

Hermione wore a teal body suit that had branches, vines, and flowers going over her heart and wrapping down one leg. Her sleeves were teal, but translucent as it was covered in the same tulle her train was made out of. Draco couldn't help but think she truly looked like a princess with the crown she wore on her head poking out like she had borrowed a few of the sun's rays for the evening. Her large mass of chestnut hair was down, but the end of it was secured with gold string to ensure it would stay out of her way.

Much to Draco's annoyance Blaise whistled and Hermione jerked her head up just as her hand touched the banister. "_Bella! Bella!"_ She grinned at Blaise's compliment and walked to where they stood. Draco thought she seemed a little taller and looked down to see she was wearing heels that were the color of grass, but had a flower here and there to accent the strips of material.

"They're actually quite comfortable." Hermione lifted a leg a few inches from the ground and twisted her ankle to show off the stiletto. "They change height if I need them too and Senor Siriano said that when I walk on the grass outside, flowers would temporarily bloom where I step. I think they're my favorite part of the outfit!" Draco rarely saw Hermione so excited and he couldn't help but smile as she talked about the garments she wore. It hit him then that she had probably never _wore_ anything that was so heavily charmed and he thought how she was acting was adorable. "I thought it would be the train at first-" Hermione grabbed one side of the cape like cloth and gave a slow twirl- eliciting another whistle from Blaise. Draco felt a pang of annoyance again even though he was glad that Blaise seemed to be bouncing back from his earlier sorrow. "It really stops just after my knees and the rest of it is a glamour. It will be wonderful to be able to dance without having to worry about tripping over it." She let the train drop before putting a hand to her chin. "I must admit I'm a bit upset I spent time learning fan etiquette when I won't be using one tonight."

Hermione looked up at Draco with a sheepish expression as she realized she was rambling and froze. She had looked over his costume, unsure what he was at first, but the bident was a give away. She didn't doubt the designer that Lucius had hired was at all incompetent as she had only seen clever charm at this level on Harry's invisibility cloak. Still, she hoped that Siriano had been mistaken when dressing Draco. "Thanatos?"

Draco felt his face flush when it came to him that Hermione still had not known which god he had chosen. _I shouldn't be reacting like this! It's just a gala and it's just a costume. _"Hades."

He wanted to laugh when Hermione's face flushed to match the flower fastened on her chest, but he couldn't. Blaise just looked between the two, not saying anything as Hermione looked everywhere, but at Draco. _Did I make things even more awkward by not telling her? _When Hermione finally looked back at him, a wry grin spread on her face as she approached him and she raised both hands to her eye level. "Come here _mari_, your circlet is crooked." Draco prayed that the heat of his face from her using the French word for husband was his imagination, as he ducked his head for Hermione to recenter the platinum circlet that Narcissa dug out of the Malfoy Manor vaults. He was close enough to count the freckles over her nose and smell her scent again. He couldn't help but think that it was odd that aside from the citrus, she almost smelled like pure honey as the scent usually changed with people's chemistry. _Just one mystery after another. _"If you wanted to match so badly, you could have just asked me, you know." Hermione stepped back and gave him a mocking smile of her own.

Draco was relieved she was talking their costumes as a joke, but he was starting to hate how he kept reacting to her; the butterflies, his heart rate increasing- _He couldn't help but smirk as he wet his lips and placed the back of his fingers in the middle of her chest, right over her heart. "Your heart is racing." _It had already occurred to Draco that tonight was going to be a long night, but he realized it would not before different reasons.

Blaise decided that this was the time to extend his arm to her. "Madam Granger, I have a business proposition for you tonight." Hermione's eyebrows raised at the French accent that was over powered by the Italian one, but she took his arm and allowed him to steer her away from Draco. Draco's hand holding the bident twitched as he was overcome with the urge to whack Blaise with it, but he resisted, even when Hermione glanced back at Draco to see if he was following them.

After Draco was sure the blood was gone from his face, he started to walk after them, hoping that he'd have a nightmare to counteract the dream he had this morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I don't believe I mentioned this before, but Siriano is actually named after an actual designer named Christian Siriano. He's amazing and is one of the few who will use women with all body types on the catwalk.


	32. The Gala (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Threat of sexual assault mention, threat of r*pe mention, incest.
> 
> Here is the Flickr account with the concept art. I will be uploading Draco's outfit soon! https://www.flickr.com/photos/188447893@N05/?
> 
> Mamma, non puoi spaventare la prima ragazza che ti porto: Mom, you can't scare the first girl I bring you.
> 
> Vita mia: My life.
> 
> In case you would like to listen to Baroque music as you read: https://youtu.be/SaCheA6Njc4
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the music mentioned, Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Hermione, Blaise, Draco, Pansy, and Theo had been kicked out of the manor roughly an hour before the gala. They walked in silence towards the outer gardens as they looked at the creme and off-white silks that decorated their path. At the mouth of the outer gardens was a heavy gold curtain that reminded Hermione of the red ones that was often found in muggle theaters. When they approached the gold hangings, two cherub like creatures pulled the curtains back to reveal the open dance floor that was covered in a moss that was enchanted to remain soft enough for comfort, but hard enough that no one's heels sank through. What would serve as the dance floor was surrounded by soft, fluffy clouds that clung to the floor around the large, round tables. The tables were a tell the gardens had been expanded to accommodate not just the guests, but the aerial silk dancers that were already hanging from the tent-like draping that would be used to provide cover from any unfortunate weather they may encounter tonight.

Seeing the area she ran through the day before completely transformed brought a small comfort to Hermione. Not having the knowledge of what she drank or if there would be side effects other than physically feeling magic had her worry about a second trip being triggered. Even now, she could feel the magic pressing at her at all sides. It scared her, but she refused to let it overwhelm her and make a spectacle on an important night for the Malfoys. Hermione felt responsible for what she went through yesterday and wanted to stay on her best behavior to help the Malfoys anyway she could.

The teens had decided to gather in a circle in the middle of the empty dance floor. Draco and Theo had started a conversation on if the aerial dancers were too much or not enough, while Pansy listened closely. Hermione had been admiring how Draco could act like nothing was wrong with being sandwiched between a clingy Pansy and an obnoxious Theo when she felt something moist lightly whistle in her ear. "Do you think they are going to argue about who has the better costume next?" Hermione made a face and moved away from the jackal's wet nose. Sometimes wizards went _too_ far with making objects realistic. "Sorry, it's a bit hard to measure."

"It's fine." Hermione waved one hand while she wiped her ear clean with the other. "It's fine, I suppose I should get used to saying sweet nothings in my ear." The two of them laughed as Blaise put a hand on Hermione's back. Even pretending, Hermione couldn't stop her flush at the heat of Blaise's hand on an area she had never been touched regularly before.

"Had to hire a gay man to get your rocks off, Granger?" Pansy sneered at her from across the gathering she had and Hermione felt her anger flare before she quickly put a stopper on it. Hermione gave a sweet smile she had been practicing on perfecting after her encounter at the restaurant. She had always been picked on and bullied, after living with the Malfoys she was inspired to try to handle any trouble she met with as much grace as she possibly could instead of ignoring it.

Hermione felt Blaise tense and his discomfort strengthened her resolve to defend them both. "At least my date knows I'll be pleasant company, and won't find an excuse to leave me for the night." Pansy's face pinched from the retort, but was stopped from saying anything else as a hired house elf offered everyone drinks. Hermione took a glass of what looked like champagne, but instead smelled like grapefruit. Hermione was going to brave taking a sip until an idea popped into her head, forcing her to give a mischievous grin. "Tell me, who are you supposed to be tonight Pansy if Draco is your date? Minthe?" Draco hid his smile behind a sip of the pumpkin juice he decided on as his eyes slid to Pansy- who he asked to be his date for the night. It was petty, but Draco refused to be the only one living at the manor without an escort to his gala.

Pansy crossed her arms and put her nose way too high in the air. "I don't know who that is-" Hermione mumbled that the Greek Nymph was no one important anyway and Pansy spoke as if she didn't hear the jab. "But I am Dhumorna. Wife of Yama who is the god of the dead- much like Hades." Pansy looked up at Draco as she batted an eyelash while twirled a stand of long dark hair in her heavily bangled hand. "I was able to convince daddy to let me pick who I could be after all- although he insisted I stick with someone from our culture."

Hermione couldn't help the surprise she felt that Pansy had bothered to put the effort into looking into who she was dressing up as, but annoyed that Draco told Pansy what who he would be before disclosing it to Hermione. Still- Hermione refused to let her character break. "Oh, that's good. For a second I was convinced you were a female version of Hephaestus."

Hermione drank from her glass as everyone tried to figure out what she was on about. She resisted the initial urge to roll her eyes at them not being able to keep up as she knew it wasn't common information. When she started to elaborate, Theo cut in. "Husband of Aphrodite, right? I considered dressing as him until..." Theo bit his lip as he smiled, seeing where Hermione was going with the conversation. She would have felt proud to make him laugh before he drugged her, but all she wanted to do now was hex him so the rest of his teeth were crooked.

Hermione's grin returned as she stared at Pansy. "Yes. He's also known for being the only God in Olympus to be considered ugly." Pansy looked beyond insulted as Theo and Blaise howled with laughter. Even Draco was trying not to look at Pansy as he was laughing at the beauty of the set up Hermione had created. He glanced at Pansy when he felt he could control his laughter just in time to see Pansy cock her wrist back to throw her drink at Hermione.

Luckily, Hermione had jumped behind Blaise before most of the water could hit her. "Did I not warn everyone in the Slytherin house not to bother Hermione?" Theo was still chuckling as Blaise grinned like a mad dog, but Draco's expression was so serious, Pansy had to bite back a nervous whimper. He also saw confusion swimming in her brown eyes and alarm bells started to ring in his head. She didn't know that Hermione was considered a friend and he had spent the last few days Pansy was at the manor trying to keep it that way, only for him to defend Hermione and call her by her first name. "My parents would be-"

"It's fine, Draco." Hermione was no longer smiling and her gaze looked deadly as she stood over the water that was being soaked into the moss. She was angry enough to where she didn't comprehend Draco's question and the flowers around Hermione's feet changed from Yellow Daffodils to Orange Lilies. "I wouldn't expect any other reaction from someone whose been raised that her only value as a person is in her looks and how many children she can produce."

The boys looked between Hermione and Pansy, not sure what to do next. They had witnesses the two arguing before, but Hermione had never came back at Pansy with such a strong comeback as she often chose to fight back with kindness if she chose to react at all. The teens were so enthralled in the argument that they hardly noticed a handful of guests had started to trickle in, and was only half surprised to see the Minister and Rita Skeeter making their way towards them.

"Good evening, children." Hermione had hoped she would have been able to avoid Minister Fudge, but since he was the first to approach them, she had no choice but to mingle after making room for him and the blonde on his arm.

"Good evening, Minister Fudge, Mrs. Fudge." Hermione gave a small bow along with everyone else, but couldn't help but feel awkward as the two adults stared down at her.

"Miss Granger, it's nice to finally meet you, my name is Rita Skeeter. Mrs. Fudge couldn't make it." Rita Skeeter held out her hand for Hermione to shake. Hermione paused for a moment, thinking about all the articles she had written and the reputation the reporter had, but promptly took her hand into her own when she felt Blaise press two fingers into her back. She felt confident that she could handle herself in conversation for the most part, but may have needed a bit of help deciding when to act as the Wizard elite were very different from the muggles that would attend the events she and her parents went to. Hermione agreed to play along for the night as Blaise's love interest, but decided to take a leaf from Draco's book and said she would only assist if he agreed to help her get through all the social queues she needed to hit for the night. Blaise was more than happy to agree so he did not feel in debt for the cover she was providing him. Two fingers poking into her back meant 'go for it', his thumb pressing into her back meant 'stop', while tapping her back three meant he was leaving the group while scratching or pulling an ear meant they should both escape.

"My apologies, the pleasure is all mine Mrs. Skeeter." Rita smiled and Hermione couldn't help but notice how perfect her teeth and smile looked. Being the daughter of two dentists, it unnerved her to see a smile so perfect to the point she didn't trust Skeeter already. The air Rita had around her reminded Hermione of a poster her mother had in her dentist office that had a lion licking blood off of it's canines with the saying _Don't confuse a smile, with someone baring teeth_. Hermione never questioned why her dad handled the pediatric patients while her mother strictly dealt with adults. "Who are you dressed up as if you don't mind me asking?"

Rita pushed her glasses up from the tip of her nose as she slowly turned around. She was scantily clad in an iridescent toga like dress that cast a different rainbow shine with every angle she turned. In her free arm, she held a scepter that had two copper feathers at the top that looked like wings. "I am Iris, of course. Personal messenger of Hera and Greek Goddess of the Rainbow. And you, dear?"

"Persephone." Hermione gestured with one hand at her body suit, motioning to the one leg that was wrapped in vines and branches- a symbol that she she had one foot in hell and one foot out.

"An interesting choice, may I ask why you chose her instead of another goddess?" Rita's eyes seemed to shine as she got ready to fire off questions in rapid fire. Hermione felt her smile falter as she realized it might have been best if she replied to at least one of Rita's letters.

"Rita," Fudge, who was obviously supposed to be Zeus with the quill of firebolts strapped to his side, put an arm around Rita's shoulders. "We're at a ball, it's time to have fun." Rita turned her smile to him before laughing. "She slips into reporter mode so quickly." Everyone faked a laugh at his joke. "Leave the girl alone, she's not the subject of tonight's editorial." Fudge looked at Hermione and gave her what he hoped came across as a pleasant smile, but it gave Hermione the same slimy feeling in the back of her throat that she imagined Ron felt the day he accidentally cursed himself into puking up slugs. "I see Lucius must have passed along my advice, I think that's the longest I've been in your presence without you speaking out of turn."

Blaise nearly dug his thumb in her back, but Hermione tilted her chin up and smiled. "Well, what is idle prattle for? I heard that a true gentlemen avoids it when he can and," Hermione batted her eyelashes at Blaise before giving a meaningful look at Fudge. "I guess it's true."

Everyone but Pansy laughed at her sass with Theo chiming in with a "Hear, Hear!" Hermione felt a bit dirty reducing herself to such a low level in conversation, but she was also fully aware that even if she didn't like Fudge, he _was_ the Minister and shouldn't keep provoking him.

Once the Minister started to blow hot air about the new laws he was pushing to pass, Blaise and Hermione shared an eye roll. Hermione looked at the silk hangings at the gardens entrance, that were now being kept open by the cherubs due to the amount of wizards walking in and sighed deeply in an attempt to reset her nerves. She just barely processed that the hidden orchestra was starting to play baroque music when felt several taps on her shoulder. When she turned to look at Blaise, she instead was face to face with his mother. Blaise had warned that Mrs. Zabini had been dressed as Bastet and wore a mask similar to Blaise's except in the form of a black cat. Her entire costume however was in black, as she was recently widowed, something Blaise warned Hermione about and asked her not to bring up. Hermione was in shock he seemed unbothered by the death, but could understand not wanting to talk about the passing of a loved one.

"It's nice to finally meet you Hermione, Blaise has told me a lot about you." Mrs. Zabini's hazel eyes held Hermione's brown ones and Hermione felt the oddest sensation in her head- almost like a shift or a tickle. She gasped and started to see her recent memories before her: Walking down the path to the manor, eating a small snack with Blaise as they discussed their code, all of the teens being told by Narcissa they were forbidden from the manor until the gala had ended. When the memories got close to Blaise talking about his request to fake a relationship, Hermione felt her occulemency walls slam into place- almost without her will. Mrs. Zabini took a step back, blinking in shock as she had not expects the younger girl to be an occulemens. Mrs. Zabini could snese Hermione's walls were weak, but the fact she had been able to place them and was aware of what Blaise's mother was doing was enough for Mrs. Zabini to back off entirely.

"_Mamma, non puoi spaventare la prima ragazza che ti porto?_" Hermione didn't need to know Italian to understand that he was not just caught off guard, but was furius with what had been done. He was a dedicated actor though and slid a hand around Hermione's waist protectively. _Was that... Was that Legilimency? Did_ _I_ block _her? _She had never experienced anything like that before and wanted to question Blaise to find out why he hadn't warned her about that instead.

"I am so sorry, Hermione." Mrs. Zabini took one of Hermione's hands and held it in both of hers. Hermione's anger was momentarily overthrown by the excitement she held for bring able to use occulemency when she needed it, but had already decided she was not inclined to like Blaise's mother. If she were in any other setting, and if she wasn't acting for Blaise's sake, Hermione's reaction would have been much more brash. _What was it that Narcissa said I should say when people apologize? Oh-_ "I accept your apology, Mrs. Zabini." Hermione turned to face the tanned woman, and leaned onto her left foot so she was standing closer to Blaise- still very aware of his arm around her. "A mother is always going to be curious with who is around her son, please don't be too upset with her, Blaise." Hermione batted her eyelashes like Pansy had earlier when the half-Indian teen looked up at Draco. Blaise was watching her curiously from the corner of his eye and Hermione hoped she didn't sound as ridiculous as she felt. There was a tense moment shared between them all before Mrs. Zabini spoke again.

"See, _vita mia_, she understands." Mrs. Zabini put a hand on Blaise's shoulder. Before any of them could say another word though, Hermione heard her name being called.

"Hermione, there you are!"

Hermione turned around to see Arthur and Percy Weasley walking towards her. Hermione had been warned by Narcissa that due to her living at the Manor, guests may attempt to pull her in every direction for a chance at conversation and it was her job to stay moving around the floor as to not seem rude in preferring one guest over another. Hermione had been dreading this fact, but nearly sent a _thank you_ heavenward at the excuse to put distance between her and the Zabinis. "Please excuse me." Hermione smiled at Blaise's mother before slipping out of Blaise's grasp. Before she had taken two steps, she could hear the Italian bickering start behind her.

Arthur Weasley was wearing a simple toga and an olive leaf crown while Percy looked like he had spent every paycheck he had earned at the ministry since graduating from hogwarts on his costume. Hermione grinned at the two familiar faces as she put a hand on her chin, sizing Percy up. "Let me guess. Warrior's clothing, a mirror shield and sword- Hercules?"

Arthur Weasley laughed before he put an arm around his son's shoulders that was quickly shrugged off. "Dad, come on. There's going to be officials from the Ministry here-"

"Right, right, I have to stop embarrassing you." Arthur waved a dismissive hand in the air before looking back at Hermione. "He's decided to be the hero Perseus. How are you doing though, dear? Ron says he misses you."

"Oh, I just sent him an owl today, I'm doing well enough." Hermione placed both hands on her hips as she looked at Percy. "Speaking of Ron, he told me you started at the Ministry, Percy. How is it so far?" Percy seemed to be looking everywhere, but at her.

"It's swell." Percy gave her a seemingly nervous glance which had her eyeing him curiously, unsure what the source of his unease was.. "I'm going to go say hello to Amelia Bones." Without another glance back, he walked off to a far corner where a red headed woman was standing next to who Hermione recognized to be Susan Bones in Hufflepuff.

"He's always been a bit ambitious, don't take it personally. The only reason he came is because he insisted he use this as an opportunity to spread his name with our coworkers." Hermione looked back at Arthur Weasley who looked somewhat put out at his son walking off so quickly, but not as upset as she was at his words. As much as she had been fond of the Weasleys, she would have found it less rude if they all stayed home instead of taking advantage of the gala. _But then again... isn't that the real reason everyone is here?_ "I hoped we could spend time together tonight since he locks himself away in his room all day to write his thesis for the Ministry but, ah, this old man should know better." Arthur sighed after throwing his hands in the air and Hermione felt her chest tighten in sympathy. She knew the feeling of wanting to spend more time with family, and wanted to pull Percy back to his father's side by his ear to make Arthur feel better.

"Don't worry, the night is young Mr. Weasley. I'm sure he'll make his way back and even if he doesn't, perhaps I can try to keep you company." Hermione gave him a reassuring smile that disappeared when she felt an unwelcome weight on her shoulder.

"Perhaps not." Hermione didn't need to look to know that the heavy hand on her shoulder and the drawling voice belonged to Lucius Malfoy. When she stepped to the side to look at him, she saw him for the first time today wearing emerald robes with a gold circlet on his head. A gold gauntlet covering his right forearm was the only thing covering the bare right side of his upper body while his robes were fashioned in a way that kept the left side of his torso covered with the velvet-like fabric. The look was simple, but very fitting for the Titan Kronus. "The speeches are about to start, and we'll be needing you seated, Hermione." Lucius looked down at her, only using his eyes as he kept his head face Arthur's direction. "I'm happy to see you _allowed_ one of your sons to join us, Arthur. Pity you can't trust an event for a good cause to bring all of your children." Lucius guided Hermione away to be seated before Arthur could reply to the jab.

Hermione saw Narcissa standing in front of their table, where Draco and Fudge were already seated at their table, waiting for everyone else to sit before she spoke. The dress she wore matched Lucius' in its simplicity, but it shined like crystal. Hermione had never known that Narcissa had long hair, and it surprised her to see it cascade in blonde and brown hair down her back, even in a high ponytail. She too wore a crown like Hermione's and it not just completed the look of them being a family, but the look of her being the Titan Rhea. Hermione realized that while their costumes were plain, they gave off their own level of paramount that no one else was able to touch at the gala.

Once Hermione was seated between Draco and Lucius, everyone was at their assigned table so Narcissa was literally given the floor. Holding a wand to her neck, Narcissa gave a smile that was as bright as her dress. "Good evening, everyone. The turn out tonight is absolutely amazing..."

Hermione tried to pay attention to the speeches. She really did, but it was difficult to sit there for one self-gratifying speech after another about how grateful the speaker was to be there to help children and _muggle children _(Did they really feel the need to specify when a scared child was a scared child?) She found the speeches to be pointless to listen to and kept receiving glares or nudges from Lucius when her gaze started to wander. Hermione found some relief when the auction started- Which had Ona Mahelona as the announcer, much to Hermione's surprise as she would have thought the Hawaiian family would have hated the Malfoys, but past the magical artifacts, it wasn't really interesting. The only highlight was that Lucius purchased the last antique, which was the _Mirror of E__rised_ that was donated by the Darling family. Hermione made a face hearing the family name, but didn't think anything of it as the dance floor was cleared before being flooded with house elves hovering plates of food to everyone's tables. The orchestra resumed playing baroque music as the rich wizards started to eat and talk in an excited buzz about the relics they would be adding to their collection.

At the end of the seven course meal that had everyone's stomach filled with the richest of food, but still was light enough to fuel a night of dancing, Lucius handed Hermione and Draco a glass of wine. "The Darling family has roots deep in manufacturing and supplying materials to major companies from _Flyte and Barker _to _Magical Congress of the United States of America_. If I can land a deal with Oliver Darling, we'll be set, Draco." _Oliver Darling_? Hermione felt her lips curled in disgust as she tried to convince herself she heard Lucius wrong and took a sip of blue prosecco wine that was awfully sweet in the worst ways. Draco seemed to have thought the same about the bitterness of his red wine as he made a similar face. "And this is the only glass you two will be having tonight, I don't want you to even _attempt_ to sneak anything else from the elves." Lucius gave them both a withering look that Hermione was unconcerned about between her wanting to know who Lucius was referring to and how the after taste of the wine reminded her too much of cold medicine.

Once everyone had stood, the tables and chairs moved to provide more room on the dance floor. Hermione's stomach flipped as she looked around, wondering if she would see any faces she knew from her muggle life. Twice she scanned the crowds from where she stood, the only other face she recognize was Neville's and his grandmother, who looked like she was trying to get him to dance with her, and a willowy blonde girl she often saw Ginny hanging around with. Her mind tried to reason with her body to calm down, but her fight or flight mode had already been triggered as that weird feeling she sometimes felt in her spine told her that they were here.

"Would you mind if we switch?" Hermione's focused were briefly disrupted by Draco extending his wine glass towards her. "If we only get one glass, we might as well try to enjoy it." She nodded before they exchanged glasses. Draco was right of course, but she hardly tasted the bitterness as she gulped it down. She knew alcohol was a depressant and hoped it would calm down her anger.

Lucius took the empty glass from her after pausing his conversation on how he and Draco would approach Oliver Darling, annoyed with how fast she drank it. "That wine was cured in a whiskey barrel and stronger than the one I originally gave you. Control yourself."

Hermione would have felt bad about that, but her mind was a one track mind as one leg started to bounce. _They can't be here. That's impossible - they aren't wizards._ "Can you point out who the Darling family is, Lucius?"

Lucius narrowed his eyes at Hermione and she thought that he was going to deny her request until he turned to search the crowd himself. While he looked for the family, Blaise joined their circle after the Minister left to mingle with another crowd that included Arthur and Percy Weasley. "Are you okay, Hermione?" Hermione nodded and she crossed her arms across her chest as she bounced on the spot. The magic of her costume rolled over her in waves and she tried to focus on that instead of an old hate being rekindled in her chest. The alcohol was starting to hit her bloodstream, but instead of calming her down like it did Lucius, it fueled her adrenaline as she rubbed her hands together. When Lucius guided her gently by her shoulder to switch spots with him so she was now between him and Narcissa, she saw red as he pointed at the small, supposedly muggle family she grew up with, gathered several meters away.

Hermione had not seen Alfie and Clara Darling since they threatened her at the Nationals Cello competition she had dropped out of mid performance. Hermione had thought it was a good thing and tried to forget about her anger at them while working out the anger she developed for herself. When Hermione had been visited by Professor McGonagall when she was informed that she was a wizard, one of the first questions she asked was if she could do magic outside of Hogwarts and what was the repercussions if she attempted it anyway as she was still enraged at what they caused. They were the only ones that Hermione had ever plotted revenge against and seeing them again brought back feelings she nearly forgot about. "Oh my god."

Draco and Blaise went on their toes to try and see who she was looking at, but there were too many people in the way. Lucius finally caught on as to why Hermione had been acting so peculiar and found himself in an odd position of feeling a bit of hope. "You know them?" The Darling family was known to not be reside anywhere in wizard London so there was a chance that Hermione was familiar with them. _If she's friendly enough with them, a contract may be as good as signed-_

"Know them? I grew up with them. We were in the same school, although they are several years older than me, and we competed against each other." Hermione's hair was fighting against the hair product she had as her rage filled her and Lucius' hope died faster than it came. "Oliver loves me, called me the daughter he wished he had-" Hermione crossed her arms then, knowing his annoying favoritism of her over his own children was probably the start of Alfie and Clara hating her. "His children however- well, let's just say I understand why some animals eat their young."

"Hermione!" Everyone was taken off guard, but no one more than Narcissa especially when Lucius didn't hold back his snort. "Don't encourage her."

"I don't mean to offend you, or anyone else." Hermione spoke carefully as the reaction did nothing, but make her even angrier that she had to defend herself. "But they're vindictive, churlish, and-" in the middle of Hermione's rant, she watched as Alfie kissed his sister Clara on a her cheek, but a little to close to her mouth as he quickly placed a hand on her rear when thought no one was looking. The act sparked old memories of rumors she once heard about the two and Hermione felt the same rush of translating an intense ancient runes problem. "Incestuous." Hermione said the last part a bit lower than her original volume was set at, but Lucius and Narcissa both looked bewildered at the accusation- Something that had only happened a handful of times in their lives. Even knowing how the Sacred 28 stayed _sacred, _Incest with close family was still an act that would have a wizard ostracized from their families - if not all of wizard Britain. What confused Lucius even more was Hermione had now turned a dangerous grin up at him with a violent look in her eye that oddly reminded him of his step-sister Bellatrix. "You said you wanted to talk to Oliver Darling?"

_She wants a bet_. Lucius felt an excitement burn within him along with curiosity. He was a business man through and through so the idea of a prospect being brought to him was appealing already, but seeing that _Hermione_ was finally showing her true colors in front of Narcissa just made it that much more sweet for him. "What do you have in mind? I don't want you turning this event into a circus now." Lucius knew not to put his eggs in a basket as people weren't as reliable as he liked to believe, but even if he hadn't been able to seal any deals with Oliver, Narcissa couldn't keep believing that Hermione was as weak or as innocent as Narcissa wanted her to be. This was only a win-win situation for him.

Hermione's lips twitched before she glanced at Draco. "I just want to talk. Bring Clara here to catch up before we invite their father over to talk business." Hermione pursed her lips as she thought about how to make the idea more appealing to Lucius. "I really would like to help. Think of it as an apology for yesterday."

"An interesting argument." Lucius made a show of stroking his chin before taking a finger to his lip. Delighted would be an understatement for how he felt at the moment. "I suppose that would be fine."

"Lucius, you don't think we should be encoura-"

Narcissa's voice faded behind Hermione as she had started to walk off as soon soon as Lucius gave her the go-ahead. Images of her younger life ran through her mind; Clara stealing her books and hiding them in places she couldn't reach, Clara pulling on Hermione's curls, Clara getting Hermione's classmates to laugh at her for her studying habits.

Alfie pushing Hermione against a wall and threatening her.

Hermione ignored the fact that Clara had caused her to be a loner. Due to the other students choosing to follow the older students lead, they avoided her, forcing her to grow a soft spot for fairy tales as she imagined the characters in her books were real, allowing her to escape her own world in the little free time she did have. _Perhaps I should be thanking them_\- the thought made her laugh as she took two champagne flutes off of a house elf's tray that was passing by her. _No, I'll stick with repaying her._ Hermione had plotted against the siblings for months, but could never find the right time or moment- they were popular, she was not, so the two were never alone- even with the handful of times they weren't joined at the hip.

But now, they were in _her _territory.

On the way to the small gathering that Clara stood in with her father, she herself had separated from the group. _Perfect. _Hermione zipped between guests as she hunted her prey, careful not to step on anyone's clothing or accidentally bumping into another guest. Hermione cut off Clara's path on her way out of the boundaries of the silk ceiling towards the temporary latrines the Malfoys had set up so no one would need to enter the manor. "Clara Darling, is that really you?" The look on Clara's face when she heard Hermione's sweet tone was priceless, but not enough to satiate Hermione's hate for the older teen. Clara's dirty blonde hair had been put into a smooth chignon and her yellow - green eyes looked bright with the violet empire cut dress she wore. "It is you! What a small world." Venom dripped off of Hermione's words as she closed the distance between them. Clara's pink pout pulled into a snarl before being forced into a smile, but she was surprised when Hermione extended one glass towards her.

She eyed it with a guarded look, but took Hermione's offering. "I didn't know you would be here, Hermi-"

"Granger. We're not friends." Hermione looped her arm in Clara's despite her words and was pleased to find that guiding Clara back to a waiting Lucius was easier than expected as the old school mate was taken off guard. "And you and I both know that's a lie. I made headlines last summer and I hear your father is important enough to stay up to date with current events."

"Get off of me." Clara stopped in her tracks and pulled her arm away from Hermione to change the flute of champagne out for a glass of water. Hermione cocked her head to the side as she watched Clara's dress shift. _She couldn't be..._ Hermione specifically looked at the high waist line that did not disrupt the almost completely veiled bump that was just starting to show before her hands returned to their original resting place over her belly. The same hands that had jumped to cover her stomach rather than her heart when Hermione surprised her. Clara took several gulps of water, proving that she had been thirsty despite not touching a single drop of alcohol. "How far along are you?"

Clara choked on the water and Hermione resisted her urge to laugh as Clara wiped at her mouth and nose before trying to hide her panic by pushing her shoulders back and standing taller. "What do you mean?"

Hermione gave a faux smile. "It's alright you know, I won't tell anyone about it." Hermione placed a hand on Clara's arm in reassurance. "It's Alfie's isn't it?"

She went too far with trying to have the other girl admit it and Clara shifted her weight on to one foot as she glanced around the room, trying to make eye contact with anyone to come to her rescue. "You think you know everything don't you? Just leave me alone."

Hermione slowly took a step closer though, completely riding on a high of adrenaline and anger. She could taste the embarrassment she would be serving the Darling family tonight and refused to let anything stop her now. "You see, I would but I'm concerned how this would affect _daddy's_ business." Clara's mouth dropped open as she stared, completely speechless with Hermione using the term Clara referred to her own father with. "It would be such a scandal if Rita Skeeter was to write about this- it would just break his heart, wouldn't it? I know he doesn't know." Clara wasn't the type to let her father find out anything that would tarnish how he saw his daughter. With that thought, Hermione's nostrils flared when another truth came to light. "About him becoming a grandfather, I mean. Neither of you attend Hogwarts so I imagine he sent you both to completely separate schools to make sure your paths never crossed again after he found out about your little relationship." Past memories were starting to make too much sense to Hermione. Alfie, suddenly disappearing from their private school in their last year of primary school. Rumors of him being sick to the point of being home schooled were really just a cover up to keep them separated. "Stop looking around, everyone's having too much fun to notice two gals having a chat."

"Fuck you, don't call my dad that. I don't know what you're on about, since you've won the adoption lottery- but your father real father is dead." Hermione only smiled at her words- she was far too enraged to become even more mad and was completely serene at watching the fear flicker in Clara's almond shaped eyes. Hermione knew too much and there was nothing Clara could do to stop her, a feeling that Hermione reveled in.

"You see, that's why I won't feel bad about whatever happens next." Hermione turned on her heel, no longer walking towards the Malfoys, but towards Oliver Darling. She would be sad later that she wasn't able to help Lucius make what ever proposal he was going to try for, but she was going to enjoy the shit show she was starting.

"Wait, wait!" Hermione was spun around by Clara, whose strong facade had crumbled revealing she was completely on the verge of tears. "Don't you like my father? Why would you do that to him- think about how you'll make him feel-"

She shook Hermione in her grip as she stared down into her brown eyes. Hermione pushed Clara's hands off one by one with her free hand, giving Clara a disgusted look. "I never liked your father, your father liked me. He was bloody annoying with all the praise he would give me- it was bloody _weird._ If you would have listened to me, you would have realized that."

Clara looked down at Hermione after she stopped speaking before she finally broke. "What do you want? _What do you want_?" Her whispers were low and desperate, causing Hermione to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling at her victory. Having Clara grovel was the pure definition of sweet revenge.

"You're going to help me have your father agree to whatever deal Lucius wants to throw at him." Hermione slipped her arm around Clara's again before resuming the path back to the Malfoys.

Clara's inhale hitched in her nose. "What if I don't convince him? He's been ignoring Luc-"

"_Mr. Malfoy_, Clara. Mind your manners." Hermione was having too much fun mocking her former bully and she could only imagine what Dr. Augsen would say.

"What if it doesn't work?" Clara sniffled, feeling overwhelmed with the task Hermione was giving her. Hermione made a point of waving at Rita Skeeter as she walked by which was returned with an eager finger wave.

"I didn't stutter when I said what would happen." The girls walked in silence for the rest of their path and were easily accepted but the small circle. Theo and Pansy had tried to join, but were led off by a disappointed Blaise who obviously wanted to stay to witness what about to unfold.

"Clara, this is Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco. Everyone, this is Clara Darling." Hermione paused, feeling she should add something to the introduction. "She's going to help you convince Oliver to accept your bargain or I get to tell everyone she's pregnant with her brother's child."

All three Malfoys glanced at each other- Lucius still had one hand in the air where he meant to take Clara's hand for a kiss. "What the hell, Granger." Clara hissed while Hermione took a sip of her champagne. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone if-"

"That was just a demonstration of what will happen if this doesn't work: I open my mouth, people learn things you don't want them to." Everyone felt the hate radiating off the two teens and Draco didn't miss the dead flowers surrounding Hermione's feet. Thankfully, the trail she created behind her were starting to disappear so no one would notice unless they looked right the ground beneath her. Lucius gave Narcissa a triumphant glance that she returned with an annoyed glare. He hoped that Narcissa would stop taking Andromeda's side with wanting to walk around Hermione's feelings as if they were eggshells before he returned his attention to Clara, who had just been joined by her brother.

"Clara, what are you doing?" Alfie Darling had been dressed in a gaudy violet suit that matched his sister's dress, that had a man with a pegasus drawn chariot that was pulling the sun around his suit. _Artemis and Apollo? Didn't Artemis take a vow of chasity? _Hermione snorted as she went to take another sip of the champagne, but had the glass taken from her by Lucius. _Oh, right._

"How rude of you to walk up to us and not introduce yourself." Narcissa's silence had made Hermione nervous for a brief moment, but that changed when she spoke harshly to Alfie. Hermione smirked when she locked eyes with Draco who, almost imperceptibly, widened his eyes at her. She could almost hear him say _'what the hell' _and she shrugged one shoulder as if to say _'Don't know what you're talking about.'_

Hermione looked up at Alfie who half stood in between Clara and Draco. "Please don't take it personally, ma'am. He's always been terribly rude."

Alfie looked at Hermione and she saw as recognition turned into a predatory expression. "Well, hello, _Granger_." Even Draco, who she once thought saw her as scum of the earth, was never able to make her name sound like a curse the way Alfie did. It made her want to respond by letting her fire burst from her hands to char him from the inside out. She could feel the pressure of her magic heat up between her fingers, but she was determined to prove to Lucius she could control her anger instead of reaching across Clara for her brother's neck like she wanted.

"You mentioned that you and the Darling children did not get along, surely it's not simply due to a lack of manners?" Narcissa was wanting to maintain a look of a good roll model for Hermione and wanted to discourage the conversation immediately if Hermione was simply acting out of pettiness of an old school rivalry at the gala. Even without the threat of Andromeda coming after her if she were to undo the progress of their sessions, she wanted to be the best mother for her and Draco.

Hermione didn't want to be the first to break the glare she and Alfie had been throwing at each other, but did after a moment to give Narcissa her undivided attention. "Other than them being jealous bullies who made my social life unbareble-"

Alfie scoffed. "_Jealous_, she says. There's no reason I would be jealous of a mudblood like you-"

"Go ask your father who he liked more out of the three of us, Ass-" Hermione pressed her hand to her thigh where her wand was sheathed, preparing to throw a hex at Alfie if he gave her another reason too.

"Language, both of you." Narcissa's impatience was bleeding though and Hermione took a deep breath as before unclenching her jaw.

"Clara and I were competing in a national competition." Hermione turned away from Alfie completely and faced Narcissa. " Something my father and I had been preparing for over a year. After Clara played- what was that juvenile song called? _Flight of the Bumblebee_?"

"It was-" Clara started to correct Hermione on the piece that she played. But Hermione waved a hand- once again having someone fall into her set up.

"Irrelevant." Hermione took a deep breath as her voice wavered remembering the memory that set her hate for Clara _and_ Alfie over the edge. "Alfie threatened me right before I went on stage. Pushed me against the cement wall and stuck a hand up my dress to punctuate his threat on what would happen if I didn't throw the competition." Hermione felt her anger start to dissipate as she bore holes into the grass in front of her. He didn't _touch_ her, but the threat of rape was _why_ she choked on stage. Hermione tried to brave the performance, but when she accidentally locked eyes with Alfie who was sitting up front with the rest of the performer's families, she simply stopped playing. Clara and Alfie laughed at her as she balled on the way out of the venue and _that_ was why she hated them. The fact that even though her parents were honest and open with her about a lot of things, but she still had to look up the word _rape_ to fully understand the threat, was why she hated them. The fact she didn't fully know the meaning of the violent threat, but still faltered and threw away hundreds of hours of practice for Clara to not even place was why her she almost wanted them both dead.

But she could settle for embarrassing them now before she found a way to ruin their lives later.

Hermione didn't realize she had spaced out completely until Draco was pulling at her arm. "Hey, let's start talking to the other guests. Father can take it from here." Hermione looked up at Draco who was obviously concerned about Hermione. Draco, who used to be almost as bad as the Darlings at one point, was now the one being gentle with her and caring for her well being_. _Hermione took a step forward to follow Draco, but not before she glanced back to look at the dark looks that Narcissa _and_ Lucius had on their faces. _I was supposed to help them with Oliver_\- She stopped in her tracks, but Draco grabbed her other arm. "You helped him get more than a foot in, and there is nothing else you can do. Let him take over."

It was the right thing to say and she followed Draco once more, this time allowing her to be pulled over to the small group that Theo, Blaise, Pansy, Daphne, and Astoria had created. Her body was still vibrating with suppressed rage, but she redirected it to keep her back straight and her feet moving. "I don't know if I can handle Theo or Pansy right now."

"Fair enough..." Draco glanced at her before stopping in front of the group and clapping his hands together. "Who's ready to dance?" Pansy threw her arms around Draco's neck and Blaise grabbed Hermione to spin her around.

"_Mon Cherie_, may I have this dance?" Hermione glanced at his goofiness as he lead her beside Draco to the dance floor. She couldn't say it, but she did think it as they she watched Draco slide an arm behind Pansy's back before he took her hand.

_Thank you._

Her mind pushed back the thought of the Darlings after the first few songs, but she wished her heart would stop clenching every time she caught sight of Draco gliding across the floor with another girl in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What Hermione says to Fudge about men is actually lines from "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in the Little Mermaid.


	33. The Gala (Part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't read any authors notes or TWs, please read this one:
> 
> So, I want to say that I had the gala chapters mapped out for months. When I wrote and imagined Fudge, I wanted him to be a copy of Donald Trump. Blood Supremacists will be something that Hermione will always have to deal with, and something that is always going to be a big deal for her in my fic. These issues were always going to be addressed in my fic as this is my number one platform to express myself. I know emotions are high right now (as they should be), but just wanted to make it clear I'm not taking advantage of what is going on as I always had wanted to write this out and have these scenes happen. So without further adieu...
> 
> MAJOR TW: Racism (Blood purity), Human Trafficking Mention.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the series (unless I disclose otherwise.)

Several hours later, the crowd had barely thinned out, but the aerial dancers disappeared as the smoke of cigars filled the air.

"I want to thank you for earlier, Hermione." Lucius had a pleased look on his face as he nodded at the guests Hermione and Blaise were chatting with when he stopped to talk to her. Lucius dipped low enough that she could smell the alcohol on his breath to continue with his message, but still far enough to know his wits were about him. "Oliver should be a new partner." He looked like he wanted to say more, but was either struggling with the right words or was wondering if now was an appropriate time.

"Of course." Hermione awkwardly patted a hand over the fingers he had on her shoulder, relieving him of his struggle. He disappeared and Hermione caught sight of Narcissa walking back to the Manor with Fudge before turning back to the group. Hermione hadn't left the dance floor and danced with several different men. None of them were Draco, but none of them were Theo so she had to be grateful for small miracles. In fact, the only interaction she had with him was when they both had met at the same elf for a refreshment at one point during the night. He asked how she was enjoying the ball as a way to see if she was in need of the calming draught, and she smiled at him before reassuring him that she was having the time of her life.

In actuality, she was struggling with feeling down. She felt drained after talking about a major turning point in her life several years ago, but dancing had helped her regain a level head. She was content after seeing a squirming Clara and Alfie speaking with a dim-witted Oliver, but she just didn't feel as good like she did before she was infuriated by the Darlings. Hermione felt Blaise tap her three times on her back and she nodded at him before watching Blaise disappear. They had been listening to Percy talk about the thesis Arthur had mentioned earlier, as several other officials from the Ministry gathered in a circle. She felt confident in what she considered a more neutral group and thought she wouldn't need help on what to comment on, if she felt the need to join the conversation at all.

"So you've chose cauldron bottoms?" Bartemius Crouch Sr. scratched his mustache in thought. He was an older man who felt he was above the dress code of the gala. Hermione thought it was fair enough that he stuck to his usual attire of wizard robes as Narcissa had mentioned in one of her lessons that there would be several Ministry officials not dressed up since they were only there to witness and look over the magical artifacts being auctioned. "That's a topic that I think too many people skip over. It's nice to see you're choosing to hone in on something that was seemingly minute, ahh...?"

"Percy Weasley, sir." Percy had his thin chest puffed out as he looked pleased so have been noticed by Crouch."

"Yes, yes, Weatherby. That's right, I remember hearing about you." Percy opened his mouth to correct the Ministry official, but the older man had turned his attention to the woman standing next to him. "We should be heading out, don't you think Mrs. Hopkirk?"

The wrinkly woman beside him nodded and they both said their goodbyes, but not before Crouch turned to Percy one last time. "When you do finish that thesis, Weatherby, I would love to read it."

"Yes, sir." Percy was red in the face as several adults laughed at Percy's new name. Hermione didn't find it funny at all, especially when a stout, balding man clapped a hand on Percy's shoulder in a condescending manner.

"Don't worry, Weatherby, he might learn your name one day, HA, he learned mine last week and I've worked at the Ministry for twenty-three years!" The adults laughed again and Hermione stepped closer to Percy to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Crouch and Hopkirk were the only people who were between her and Percy and now that they were gone, she took advantage of trying to start a conversation with someone she's known longer than a year. "Worst case scenario is that he'll learn your name after he reads your wicked thesis." Percy gave her a glance before looking back at the portly man who decided he hadn't had enough of poking fun at Percy.

"This your girlfriend, Percy? A bit young don't you think?" A small chuckle ran through the circle as Percy vigorously shook his head.

"Oh, heavens no." Percy gave a nervous laugh. "It's my brother's best friend. One that _he_ fancies." Hermione's face scrunched up at Percy's words, wondering why he felt the need to become so defensive, until he provided the reason himself. "I prefer my love interests to have a bit more of ahhh... a _heritage_ to them, in a manner of speaking."

Hermione's mouth went dry as she stared at him. She felt the urge to slap him, but not only did she have the energy for it, she didn't want to be on Lucius' bad side immediately after getting on his good side. "Excuse me?"

"Weasley, you hurt her feelings." Someone chimed in.

"You can't be serious, Percy." Another Chastised.

"Hear, hear." Said the stout man.

"Your father works with Muggles, how can you say that?" A woman argued.

"Don't take it personal, dear. It's natural for a pureblood to want a pureblood." Another woman said as if that was to make her feel better.

"Hermione," Hermione didn't react to the group around her as she heard them either condemn or defend her blood purity as she stared at Percy. Percy who had been her housemate for three years who she thought was one of the most reasonable people she knew around her age, said she was undesirable due to her blood purity. "Please don't get offended."

"You're not bloody serious?" Both of her hands went on her hips as she gave him a glare "Don't be an idiot Perce. 'Don't get offended', really? You know how much the hate for muggleborns has torn the wizarding world apart-"

"It's not like that, I'm not a blood supremacist, none of us are- Penelope is a halfblood." There was a murmur of agreement from those who had defended Percy's original statement. "It's just a preference." More murmurs of agreement and Hermione looked at everyone around her, completely gobsmacked. She could see how entitled wizards that never had to lift a finger to provide for their next meal could think like that, but wizards who actually had field experience with muggles and muggle born wizards? Who witnessed with their own eyes that there wasn't a difference between the flesh? And Percy, whose whole family practiced tolerance regularly.

_Even the Malfoys seemed to have gotten over it! And Draco _\- Her heart sank beneath her stomach at the thought of him. _Would he never consider me because I had muggle parents?_ "Any wizard worth their wand would never, ever let the idea of breeding be a factor in who they chose to love!" Hermione realized too late that she was causing a scene as her shrilly voice carried over to the surrounding crowds. People were starting to stare and all at once, the shame of her bringing attention to herself when she said she wouldn't along with how flustered the night had made her took over and she ran.

Hermione tried not to cry when she felt a lump lodge itself in her throat. She felt her breaths quicken and the walls close in around her as she tried to race the on coming panic attack. _I need to get out of here. _The sea of people around her felt like they would drown her as she bumped into them and she could feel her senses heighten with over stimulation. She didn't just see the colors of costumes, but she saw could pin point the embroidered details. She felt the warmth of the wizards body under any find cloth she brushed against along with the grass tickling the sides of her feet. The heavy perfumes choked her and the sound of her shortened breath sounded too loud to her own ears. _I need air._

The last thread of sanity Hermione had kept her calm enough as she made her to the curtains leading to the manor. Several times she caught someone's eye and they took it as a means to start a conversation, but she refused to stop, lest she create a bigger scene. Once past the gold curtain, Hermione only looked back once before she took off running, but had not noticed that Draco had been forcing his way through the crowd after her. He nearly yelled for her in his panic before remembering that it would only bring attention to other party goers- which was the last thing he had wanted. Draco didn't know what his parents were up to, but when his mother told him to make sure no one- especially Hermione- try to go to the manor before she disappeared with Fudge, he didn't question it.

When Hermione made it back to the manor, she thew open the glass back doors. Hermione had just barely closed the door before put a hand to her chest when she heard a soft thump and a bright shimmer behind a love seat in the middle of the foyer. Thinking it may have been Narcissa, due to the glow of whatever had moved, she ran down the closest west wing corridor in an attempt to hide from whoever it was. _I just need to breathe, I need time, oh god just calm down!_ She dipped into the first door on her right in the event whoever she saw would chase after her, hoping they wouldn't think to check any of the rooms.

Hearing Hermione enter through the back door, Rita collapsed unto the ground, hiding behind a love seat until she heard the footsteps completely disappear behind the sound of a door opening and closing. Even after the footsteps disappeared, she stayed hidden to make sure they would not return before standing back up. _That was close._ Rita hadn't found where Narcissa or Fudge had went on the East side of the manor- although to be fair she had only cast a _Homenum Revelio_ on the east wing's first floor rooms she thought they might have disappeared into. The manor had more rooms than she thought any small family should have, but she wasn't surprised that the Malfoys had such a large estate. _Now for the this side of the manor-_

"What are you doing here?"

Rita mentally cursed seeing Draco Malfoy standing in front of the door that lead back to the ball. Rita put a hand to hear ear and smiled. "I had dropped an earring and was looking for it." She watched Draco patiently as she straightened up and placed one hand over his abdomen- taking the pose of a textbook definition of a polite gentleman. "Yes, but what are you doing here?" Draco fought the urge to look around, lest he also draw Rita Skeeter's attention to his unease. His father warned him she had eyes like a hawk and could notice even the smallest changes in someone's composure. "The party is outside." He smiled a dazzling smile as he opened the door as a suggestion she leave.

"I was looking for a bathroom." Rita had fumbled with taking the backing off of her ear as she tried to remove the earring. When it finally did come off, she wasn't able to secure the backing between her fingers, allowing it to be lost in the carpet.

"We have some set up for our guests in a more convenient location." Draco was starting to get impatient at the woman. He knew she was lying and not only could he not do anything about it, he was unable to search for Hermione to bring her back to the party, he was going to have to waste time guiding Rita back while praying the bull headed Gryffindor did not get caught by his parents.

"Oh, I didn't know." They stood there for a few breaths before Rita lowered her hand from her ear and stepped around the arm of the love seat. She had no choice but to accept her defeat, leaving her with the urge to scream out of frustration at the old enchantments forbidding her to shift into her animagus form. There was something going on and she had no choice but to allow the young brat to guide her back out to the gala. Rita made a show of shoving the earring back in as she stepped past Draco into the warm summer air.

After Rita had brushed by him, he quickly searched the dimly lit room for any sign of Hermione. Not seeing any, his palms dampened with sweat as he closed the door. He hoped that for his sake- and Hermione's- that she would come back to the event soon as he wouldn't be able to sneak after her a second time- especially after discovering Rita had already been inside the manor.

The second the door clicked closed, Hermione pressed her head against it, focusing on timing her breathing to regain control. Her peace was short-lived as she heard a scraping sound on the hard wood floor behind her. Hermione grabbed the hilt of her wand, ready to raise it, as she spun on her heel. She didn't have the time to guess what had made the noise behind her, but she never would have thought it was Minister Fudge struggling in the chair he was tied to. The noise he was making must have covered up her walking in as neither Narcissa, Lucius, nor the woman they were with acknowledged her. Narcissa was pushing in chopped ingredients into the gurgling cauldron in front of her before letting Lucius take her place to stir the cauldron.

Hermione's eyes flickered between Fudge struggling and crying in the chair to the three adults. Hermione had never seen the woman before in her life and it was difficult to see any defining features as the room was mostly lit solely from moonlight. She could see that the woman's head was in a bun that looks as tight as Dr. Augsen's or Professor McGonagall's and she seemed to be wearing muggle clothing instead of a costume. Hermione looked once more at Fudge and realized he had not been silenced, but he seemed to be under the Quietus charm. His voice sounded like a loud, raspy whisper that was half drowned out the sound of him struggling in the chair. She was able to make out him saying the name _Andromeda_ and assumed it belonged to the dark haired woman who seemed to be bickering with Narcissa. When he said the name once more, the dark haired woman stopped whatever she was saying to Narcissa and glared at the Minister. "Can we not silence him already? Half of my colleagues are outside-"

Lucius stepped to the side for a moment, allowing the cauldron to bask in the moonlight pouring through the window. "His begging helps me focus, so no." Hermione felt her back prickle with sweat. _This is bad._

"What if someone hears him?" Hermione couldn't help but think the woman sounded familiar and knew she had to be someone from the Ministry if Fudge was familiar enough to say her first name, along with 'half her collegues being outside.' The only other adults she knew that weren't the Malfoys were teachers at Hogwarts and Hermione would have for sure recognized her if she worked at the school.

Lucius scoffed at the idea as he picked up the wooden spoon to start stirring again. "You think I would try to pull this off without fortifying this room? Hell, the room is enchanted to the point that you nor him can leave without Narcissa and I guiding you out."

_Oh no._ Hermione's bottom lip was caught between her teeth as she thought about the next course of action. She had no way to back out if she wanted to, which left her with the choice of hiding until she could find a way out, or make her presence known. Hermione pressed her palms into her eyes as she mentally made a pro and con list in her head; Fudge was a condescending misogynist, who abused his power as minister- or worse, did nothing with said power but gloat. She had made herself familiar with his more popular policies in the weeks leading up to the gala and was severely unimpressed as he left many important issues unaddressed in her opinion. She even found that she wouldn't miss him all if he were voted out of office, but... Hermione didn't know if he deserved whatever the Malfoys and the mysterious woman had planned for him. She uncovered her eyes, not feeling much better and decided for now to watch to see what would happen next.

As if to punctuate this thought, Lucius paused to throw the fabric over the left side of his body off, revealing the dark mark that she had only seen once before in person. Her hands flew to cover her mouth as she felt she would be sick from the terror that suddenly became too real for her. _What do I do? What would mum do?_ Hermione already knew what her mother would do, but stood in place, trying to think of anytime where her mother chose the cowards way out of a situation. She knew Jean Granger never did, and decided that there was really only one thing for her to do.

When she took a step forward, they hadn't noticed her so she took another step, followed by another. Her mind was screaming, telling her to hide as she kept walking forward until Fudge saw her. His mouth dropped open and the dark haired woman was the first to notice Fudge had stopped squirming/ She followed his eye sight and slapped Narcissa in her arm to get her attention once she saw Hermione was there.

Andromeda, Narcissa and Lucius glanced between each other, wondering who was going to say what as Hermione stood in the middle of the room by Fudge. They were in complete shock that she was standing in front of them all, but Fudge was the first to say something. Hermione was now close enough to hear him clearly and she felt a small bit of guilt thinking about how pathetic he sounded instead of how she should get him out. "Please, Hermione, help me! Untie me- they're- they're going to kill me." Hermione winced as he let out a wailing sob before she looked at Narcissa. Narcissa had her hand over Lucius' formerly free hand, that was now clutching his wand. Even though she knew Narcissa was already preventing Lucius from hexing her, Hermione slowly coaxed her own wand from the holster on her thigh so she wouldn't attract too much attention. She sent a silent thank you to Siriano at his idea to make her wand look as if it was a part of the vines wrapping up her leg was ingenious. Hermione looked at the dark mark one last time before looking watching Lucius' wand hand. It was weird how she spent so much time around him, but did not even think about the mark he may have been hiding under his long sleeve clothes.

The same mark that terrorized wizards and muggles for over a decade. A mark that symbolized hate towards what purebloods had the habit of labeling as "her lack of heritage." A mark that meant nothing good came from that caster's wand.

Hermione's grip on her wand tightened as she watched Lucius put his robe back on to cover the Dark Mark and half of his chest. "Did we or did we not tell you to stay outside." For once Lucius could sense that he, Narcissa and Andromeda were all on the same page: They were completely unsure of what to do and he could only buy so much time before they had to act.

Hermione felt small for a second, but she used her old dislike of Lucius to help straighten her spine as her courage told her to pull her shoulders back. Her right hand coiled into a fist so her shaking was less visible. She wasn't sure if her heart hurt from how fast it was beating, or the fact that she may have to hex the people she was starting to grow fond of. "I wasn't feeling well." No one, but Fudge made a sound as she met everyone's gazes, refusing to back down, even to Narcissa. "Are you-" Hermione slowly looked over to the now blubbering Minister, then back up at Lucius. "Are you really going to kill him?"

Lucius couldn't stop the twitch of his lips as his head tilted to the side. "Usually when people ask a question like that, it's because that's something they would do if in the other person's situation. Do you have a reason to want to Minister dead, Hermione?" Lucius was sure that the memory charm on her was as strong as Andromeda said it was, but if she even had an inkling of what had happened to her...

"Wha- no!" Hermione couldn't help, but defend herself. "I just want to know why you have the _Minister of Magic_ tied up and half silenced. What did he do?!" The tension wavered in Narcissa and Lucius as they exchanged a glance with the tone Hermione had used with them.

"We're not going to kill him, Hermione." Narcissa stepped around the large table to be on the same side the teen was, but Hermione who was still suspicious of the intentions of the three adults. Hermione took a couple steps back behind Fudge, revealing to the adults she had her wand in her hand. Hermione thought she saw hurt flash in Narcissa's eyes and Hermione felt some regret for the move, even if she was concerned about her safety. "I see."

"Hermione, please- wasn't I nice to you when you stayed at the Ministry? I even made sure to put you in a lavish home- I thought they would be nice people to raise you, please, untie me."

Hermione's eyebrows came together as she looked at Fudge. Hermione understood that perhaps she would be begging a child if she was in his situation, but she knew since the start of the school year why she had been forced into the Malfoys home, so why was his first intention was to lie? "I helped you in Paris- you don't remember because I-"

Hermione didn't see Andromeda and Narcissa exchange a look as she cut Fudge off. "You sent me here to piss off the Malfoys, sir. With all due respect, I am aware I was used as a pawn." Her tone was cold as she was offended he thought she was stupid enough to be lied to.

He gave a small whimper and Hermione took a few steps forward to stand where she was initially so she could look at Fudge once more. "The potion is almost ready." Lucius looked at Andromeda as he removed the spoon from the cauldron. "It just needs to charge a bit more."

Hermione's eyes went wide as she looked stared at the cauldron that she could now see had a shimmering glow to it. Whatever it was- it was powerful. Any potion that had to soak up moonlight on a full moon was known to be have nearly irreversible consequences- much like using fiary dust. Again her eyebrows came together. "If you're not going to kill, him what are you going to do?"

"Hermione, they're lying to you, they want to-" Hermione dug into her sleeve, pulled out a handkerchief and to everyone's surprise, stuffed it into Fudge's mouth. Hermione took a deep breath and surprised everyone even more when she pointed her wand at the cauldron. There was no way she could duel any of the adults here one on one but if she was able to get a single spell out to get rid of the potion they were relying on, she would have succeeded.

"What are you trying to do to the Minister?"

"Hermione." Narcissa stepped in front of the cauldron and Hermione took a step back once more. She blinked once before she turned her wand on Minister Fudge. The dark haired woman's jaw dropped and Narcissa's eyes widened. Lucius looked around his wife and his eye brows were raised so high they almost disappeared into his hairline.

"If I knock him out, you can't give him whatever it is you're brewing." To her grim satisfaction, she noticed Lucius' jaw clench. "Tell me what you're going to do and why." Hermione felt a lump rising to her throat as she thought about the injustice Sirius Black had to face. She didn't know how good of a person Sirius was- just that he was falsely accused of a murder, nor did she know if Fudge was more than anything than a lazy politician, but what she did know was that she wasn't going to stand by and do nothing without giving Fudge a chance to get away unharmed.

"Perhaps now-"

"No, Lucius." Hermione glanced at the woman she suspected to be named 'Andromeda', wondering how she was getting away with speaking so sharply to Lucius. _Where have I heard that name before?_

Hermione caught herself wanting to ask the woman to identify herself, but refused to get side tracked and focused in Narcissa as she spoke. "Fudge has done a lot of wrong, Hermione and he shouldn't be in office." Narcissa glanced over at the dark haired woman who almost succeeded in imperceptibly shaking her head. Narcissa's eyes fell to the floor as she continued. "He's made things difficult for every single one of us. Fudge has made it impossible for Lucius to thrive in his companies and he's passed laws that affect you, me, and muggleborns. He's a pure blood supremacist who uses his position of power for nothing good." Fudge's objections were muffled as he shook his head in denial. "We;re just trying to set the balance once more. He's unfit for office and we decided that it was time we took things into our own hands. Narcissa played to Hermione's righteous side, hoping it was enough for Hermione to allow them to continue with the potions work.

Hermione waited for Narcissa to elaborate, but the blonde, angelic looking woman just stood there. "It's not as simple as that. It can't be." Narcissa didn't respond and Hermione was offended at her intelligence being insulted. "That's petty and vague. Politicians have the tendency to be corrupt, yes, even in the muggle world, but that's why we vote and campaign. We don't- we don't _kidnap_ them." Her mother, Jean Granger, did serve her country, but by no means did she love everything about it, nor did she believe being silent about it. "And Fudge's policies benefits people like-" Hermione almost said the word '_you_' but didn't want to create a bigger rift between her and the Malfoys. "Purebloods and the rich. He mocks the homeless and ignores anything less than a halfblood." Hermione shook her head and pulled the handkerchief out of his mouth. Fudge gasped for air and Hermione looked back up at Narcissa. "If you won't tell me what's actually going on-"

Narcissa opened her mouth to cut Hermione off, but it was Lucius who spoke first. "Human trafficking." Narcissa wanted to slap herself on the forehead as she completely forgot to mention that as she didn't even consider the trafficking a reality- she never would have allowed it, Fudge went quiet as he and Hermione watched Lucius walk around the table, carefully avoiding getting in the way of the moonlight the potion had cast on it, and joined Narcissa's side. "We can't keep the children from knowing everything." Narcissa and Andromeda knew he was really referring to telling Hermione that she had been obliviated, but neither sister gave him a reaction. "The Minister wanted to use the orphanage as a cover for all types of slaves, using the orphanage as it's main source for... Bodies." Lucius watched Hermione with a triumphant look as she turned back to the Minister and lowered her wand. The teen took a step back with a horrified look on her face. Hermione found that human trafficking- especially sex trafficking- was a fate she considered to be worse than death itself.

_And Fudge wanted children?_ Hermione actually retched and was afraid the rich food she had at the gala was coming back up. "They're lying, dear- Hermione, please, don't listen to them-"

"They're not lying." Hermione, out of the two Malfoys, she had surprisingly grown to trust Lucius a bit more in regards to him being more forthcoming with the truth. Thus far, he didn't beat around the bush, nor did he sugar coat anything, which was something she greatly respected. Fudge had never been friendly or honest, even when she was at the Ministry. The most he did was escort into the underground building and transfigure an interrogation room for her to sleep in. _If they had any reason to lie, they could have hexed me by now anyway._

"Please Hermione," Fudge actually had snot pouring from his mouth to his lips and Hermione found herself thinking that she hoped it tasted bad. "They're just telling you things so they can kill me, you wouldn't let them harm me, would you?"

_Bloody politicians_ her mother would say. Hermione locked eyes with him and she felt as if she was back in the Shrieking Shack, looking down on Peter Pettigrew in complete amazement at how scummy of a person he was. Hermione thought of her father this time as he too was also adopted. As a result of that, he delved deep into genealogy to try and figure out who the _Granger_s were. Hermione could still remember the twinkle in his eye when he found what the family motto was. "_Non omne quod licet, honestum_." Hermione put her wand completely in it's holster and crossed her arms.

"'Not all that is permitted is honorable.'" Hermione looked up at Lucius then and flashed the smallest smile. She had never thought that anything good would ever come out of a motto like that as she did strongly believe that everything was to be just and fair, but being in this moment now, she realized that not everything as simple as she would have like it to be.

"Family motto. Mum wasn't too pleased when dad discovered it, but there wasn't too much she could do about it." She wasn't nervous anymore, as she knew where she stood on the situation at hand. _This is just like another adventure with Harry or Ron... Except with politics._ She couldn't help but think that it was nice to do something for the greater good. _There would be so many children who won't have to worry about what Fudge wanted to put them through._

"No." Hermione looked up Fudge. They locked eyes and Hermione watched as Fudge's face morphed with anger and hopelessness before giving way to pure fury. "_I saved your life, you owe me_."

Hermione's body immediately went rigid before she raised her wand again. Her limbs were moving at her own accord and it was frightening, but there was nothing she could do. There was no fighting back- not a single ache or pain as she attempted to battle with her body. Narcissa was unsure what was happening at first until Hermione started to point her wand to the middle of her chest. Narcissa darted forward and gripped Hermione's hand, using a strength she knew had to hurt the teen. Narcissa squeezed her eyes shut and morphed into her true form to use her unfiltered vision, not caring that Hermione might have been able to see the fairy wings protruding from her back.

When Narcissa opened her eyes, she saw that tied around Fudge's throat was a gold string that was tethered to Hermione's magical core. Narcissa grabbed the magical contract, looped it around her fist several times before yanking back and shattering it. Hermione fell to her knees as she grabbed at her chest, not once letting go of her wand. Narcissa knelt next to her shifting back into her regular form before rubbing a hand on her back in a calming gesture. "Shhh, just breathe." Narcissa knew she may have just exposed herself to Hermione, but could hardly care now that she was safe, however, she refused to bring it up unless Hermione did first.

Hermione's body and head seemed to be buzzing as if she was a string on an instrument and the musician was performing an intense vibrato. It made her sick and her eyes water, but as soon as it had came, it nearly stopped. Hermione looked up at Narcissa as her brain caught up after processing what had happened. She wasn't stupid- ignorant to what exactly had happened- but she understood the fact that Cornelius Fudge had just tried to kill her and she owed her life to another Malfoy. The image of Narcissa grabbing the gold cord and breaking it played in Hermione's head again as she looked up at a speechless Fudge.

When she was able to move, she was faintly aware that she had abandoned all logic as she smashed her fist into Fudge's balding head twice before Narcissa intervened. Hermione felt an intense pain in the hand Narcissa had grabbed, but was only able to be successfully pulled away when Lucius came to help Narcissa. "YOU TRIED TO KILL ME." Fudge had a knot on his head and a bruised cheek, but she wanted to see more. _And to think I almost helped you!_

"The potion is ready. We have to do it now or we'll miss our chance." The brunette woman lifted the cauldron off of the fire it was sitting on and Narcissa left Hermione to be held back by Lucius.

Hermione hadn't noticed it before, but there was a mound of fresh, moist dirt on the other side of Fudge. Narcissa and Andromeda took one handle and poured the silvery-violet mixture on to Fudge, before pouring the rest onto the dirt. The two women chanted in a language that Hermione did not recognize, but would have imaged it to be Gaelic if she had to choose what it sounded closest to off the top of her head. After the cauldron was completely empty, Narcissa stepped away and pulled out a knife. She propped open Fudge's mouth and created a thin slit on his tongue to collect the needed blood before thrusting the knife into the now muddy mix. The potion that was on Fudge took a jelly like form and slide off of the half conscious Minister before mixing in with the rest of the dirt and potion mixture next to it.

Hermione couldn't help but gasp as she stopped struggling against Lucius to watch the magic in front of her unfold. "Isn't blood magic illegal?" She caught herself wondering if she made the wrong decision before her logic broke through her shock. _He just tried to kill me, I made the _right _decision_. Another wave of shock ran through Hermione as she realized that she didn't feel bad at all.

Lucius looked down at Hermione, just as she looked up and gave a quick nod. "It is. You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Hermione looked back at Narcissa and watched as the mound was starting to shape itself into a completely different form. She thought that cracking a joke while something so serious was happening was completely inappropriate... So she looked away to hide her smile. "Of course not."

"Good, neither will I." Lucius let her go seeing how calm she was as they watched the two women work on shaping the mix in silence. Soon, Hermione was looking at a carbon copy of Minister Fudge. Narcissa made a motion with her hands and he seemed to come to life, but only at Andromeda's will. Hermione tried to copy the motion with her own hand, only to realize she had been hurt from when Narcissa tried to stop her.

Andromeda held her hands out in front of her, as if each finger was tied to the copy. Every time she twitched a finger, the copy of Fudge would move as if he were a marionette puppet. "I have so many questions." Hermione walked forward, completely amazed at the magic.

"And you will have answers after we have Minister Fudge throw his position in the rubbish bin. You know what to do, An?" Narcissa took a deep breath and Hermione realized that Narcissa, who she admired for having nerves of steel, was nervous.

"Absolutely, now go before everyone notices the three of you have disappeared." The brunette seemed to play with the figure, practicing Fudge's mannerisms to make it seem as if he was more than just a puppet.

Narcissa gingerly took Hermione's hand that she had been cradling against her chest and healed it. "Come, you've been gone far too long."

Hermione was fascinated by the second Fudge and wanted to stay to ask question after question about what was done, but she knew now was definitely not the time. She didn't miss the glances Narcissa and Lucius gave her as they walked down the grassy trail where she was starting to hear the joyous laughter from the empty conversations their guests were having. "What's going to happen?"

Lucius looked down at her and the twinkle in his eye rivaled Dumbledore's. "Well Fudge will be giving the exiting speech tonight. He has a lot to say, and anyone who is important enough will hear it."

Hermione was surprised and felt deflated at how simple their plan was. "Is that all? Surely the people who are here would write off whatever he has to say as him being in a drunken stupor?"

Narcissa and Lucius both laughed. Narcissa put a hand on the back of Hermione's head and smoothed the hair down. "You underestimate our guests and their money! Have you also forgotten Rita Skeeter is here?" Hermione must had looked doubtful and Narcissa continued when Hermione didn't respond. "If Fudge made a fool of himself in private and decided to write the nastiest thing for all of wizarding Britain to read, it would have been written off. With over a hundred witnesses however, especially with the wizarding elite who hold the world by it's inside-out pocket, she'll have a field day and an assortment of people to interview. This means that when she does write- because she will- wizarding Britain won't just read it."

Lucius stepped in front of them both, stopping them just in front of the area where the creatures would have parted the gold curtains for their entrance. "They'll devour it." Narcissa laughed before they continued to walk through the parted curtain.

Hermione quickly located Blaise and took her time walking to him as she processed the information and the events of the last half forty minutes. It was a lot and she now an accomplice to something that could probably land her in Azkaban, but with that thought came another. The realization helped her keep her smile genuine as avoided Draco's curious gaze until "Fudge" emerged from the manor thinking about the events under the whomping willow and the nasty speech Andromeda would have "Fudge" give tonight:

She loved everyone she considered to be family, and wouldn't trade their adventures in for anything else in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapters. While I know this took me a while to write, I still plan on taking my hiatus from posting. I did however create a facebook group to stay connected with my readers and give you updates while I'm not writing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarryarWrites
> 
> I also will post updates on my writing tumblr: starryar.tumblr.com
> 
> So what do you guys think? Did anyone see fairy Narcissa coming? And ofc, Thank you once again for being so wonderful and patient! Also, I made the H.G. Mood board when I was really inspired by this chapter.


	34. Chiquitita

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! My aunt decided to come in from out of town for two weeks, which put off the solitude I am needing for my hiatus. I tried to get this up sooner, but again, I had to play tour guide for my aunt (Altho, I didn't mind, I ADORE her.)
> 
> TW: Depression / Sex trafficking mention / Brief suicidal ideation/ Suicidal thoughts.
> 
> I am trying to keep my chapters more light hearted, especially with fourth year coming up so sorry about this one, but I felt it was necessary. Love you all and now that my hiatus has officially started, I will see all in one to two months!

Lucius and Theo exited the floo at Theodore Nott, Sr's home. Theo immediately took off to his room, not wanting to face his father after what he thought was a failed attempt at drugging Hermione. Lucius raised an eyebrow at the teen's behavior, but said nothing as he made his way to the older Nott's study, making sure his cane hit the floor at a loud enough volume to announce his presence. His platinum hair was pulled into a low pony tail and his cape cut through the air with such a purpose, the untouched layer of dust on the walls around him swirled.

Nott, Sr's study door was left open and Lucius used the snake head of his cane to push it far enough for him to enter without bumping into the wood. Nott was bent over something that looked like aged, transparent parchment that was curled into a cylinder-like shape. Nott pulled the magnifying monocle from his eye and stood up straight to greet the older Malfoy with a slight frown. "Lucius, I wasn't expecting you to be here so early." Nott pressed his fingers pressed so hard into the chestnut wood desk to stop the tremors from Lucius' last imperious curse, that his finger tips turned white.

Lucius gave a grunt as he walked over to Nott's desk to take a closer look at what Nott had been observing. His nose creased as he leaned over the table, "What is this?"

"The only thing that was in the Riddle house that seemed to be out of place." Nott used the flat side of a letter opener to lift the large, dry material. "You wouldn't happen to have a very large snake hiding there would you? Or a neonate Basilisk?" Lucius gave Nott a withering look causing Nott to drop his gaze at the same time he let the snake skin slide off of the letter opener's edge. "None of the others said they were in the Riddle house and you told me to report even a hair out of place. I've done just that." Nott glanced down at Lucius' robes, then back up to Lucius' face. He knew better to ask, but his magical core itched to feel complete again.

When Hermione and the Malfoys had came back from Circe's Coriander, Lucius and Narcissa did not act against Nott immediately. A strongly worded howler was sent to Nott by Narcissa, but that was to lure the dark haired pureblood into a false sense of security. Lucius truly acted out his vengeance when he picked up Theo from the Nott estate several days ago. He had overpowered Nott, Sr. and stolen his wand before forcing him to travel to Little Hangleton like a muggle to check out the old Riddle home. The only thing Lucius gave Nott other than his order on what he needed to do, was a box and the warning on what would happen to his son, Theo, if Nott tried to contact anyone for help. Nott, somewhat to Lucius' surprise, seemed to be more concerned about the safety of his wand in Lucius' possession rather than his son, but he did not call Lucius' bluff.

"I suppose you have." Lucius took his time ignoring the question by eyeing the snake skin before looking back up at Nott, Sr. "I'll take it back to Narcissa for her to take a second look. You wouldn't mind lending me a box, would you?" Nott let out a large breath of air through his nose and Lucius stared at him, completely unperturbed by the attitude he was given. "I thought one round of _crucio _from the last time I was here would be enough of a reminder for you, would you like another my dear old, friend?"

After Lucius and Narcissa were acquitted in Wizarding War's trials, Lucius never had a true need _and_ a proper opportunity to use the _Cruciatus_ Curse, so Lucius took advantage when giving Nott his task. Between the two men, there had always been a dynamic of Alpha and Beta. Lucius realized after the restaurant that he had been so caught up in Hermione and everything around her, he had almost let Nott forget where he stood. Humiliating Nott by having him do Lucius' bidding like a muggle instead of just vanishing the material to the Manor, was just one of many ways that Lucius was able to get under the fellow Death Eater's skin without having to raise a wand.

Nott left the room in a hurry to retrieve the medium-sized, brown, cardboard box Lucius sent him off with to the Riddle estate. Lucius was needing to suppress a grin as he thought about Nott having to travel for miles carrying around an empty box, only to come back with something more fragile than the finest crystal. Lucius had given the box to the other Slytherin Alumni as part of his humiliation, not completely expecting him to come back with anything in it.

When Nott returned, he carefully placed the snake skin in it, as to not fold or damage it, lest he end up on the _unpleasant_ end of Lucius' wand again. Nott placed the box on the edge of the desk that was closest to Lucius, before pressing his hands against the desk again. "May I have it back now, Malfoy?"

Lucius pursed his lips before he reached into his robes inner breast pocket and withdrew Nott's wand. He held it out and the dark haired man snatched it back, sighing with relief as the familiar Blackthorn wood pulsed in his possession again. Lucius didn't let his pleasure show as he watched how unnerved Nott had been without it. Lucius was known to be something of an anti-Arthur Weasley among the Death Eaters; While Lucius hated muggles, he didn't shy away from learning what he could about them to use against his subordinates. He was more than aware that his hate was mirrored in the proudest of purebloods and the most dedicated of Death Eaters - meaning he could use their ignorance against them. Lucius thought that too many wizards didn't conceive that their wand was their most valuable limb, nor that they all eventually learned to rely on it as much as they relied on air. It was something that annoyed Voldemort, but even he could only break them out of their way of thinking so far. Lucius' lack of fear for anything muggle was part of the reason why Voldemort had made him the head of any muggle missions - especially when it came to muggle torture. Most of the other Death Eaters killed their prey too soon.

"I'll see you and your son at the World Cup in a few weeks? I know you have been excited to have Theo finally join the rest of the death eaters this year." Lucius watched Nott carefully, his dominate hand resting on the platinum snake head of his cane, while his thumb was on the switch that would release his wand if he needed to use it against Nott in a second's notice.

"Of course." Nott grumbled, his nose and upper lip pulled back in distaste as he tucked his wand away. "Will we see you and _yours_?" Nott couldn't help the snarl that left his lips. He told Lucius he thought he was weak for not making Draco join them on what Nott considered to be a celebration of what their bloodlines represented. Lucius had waved it off at the time, saying he made Draco stronger in other ways, like teaching him to fight and take a punch.

Lucius had no intention to keep being so kind though. _Hmpf._ Before Nott had the chance to reach for his wand, Lucius had moved the box to the side, looped the snake's open jaw on his cane under Knott's tie and twisted, before pulling back so hard that Lucius could feel the strengthening charms on his cane and wand duo vibrate with stress. With Nott, Sr splayed on his stomach over his desk top, Lucius sneered as he continued to twist his cane to wrap the tie as tight as he could before grabbing Nott's dress shirt to flip him over. Nott's face was already as red as a brick and his mouth was agape while he clawed at his neck. The struggle was of no use as the satin fabric of his tie had plunged so deep into his skin, all he was doing was scoring his flesh. "Now why would you ask a question about my _son_, after I taught you what happens when you insult my _mudblood_?" Lucius hadn't over looked that the moment he ended up snapping when he was last in Nott's study was the moment when Nott thought he could refer to Hermione as 'Narcissa's miserable mudblood.' Lucius acknowledged he thought of Hermione as an exception to other mudbloods and didn't like to use such a degrading word to describe her, but with the World Cup coming up, he didn't need her to be a bigger target than she would be already. _Especially_ since Draco would be beside her, trying to keep her out of harms way.

Lucius kept Nott there for a few moments, watching the struggling man's tongue squirm in his open mouth while his eyes watered when they started to turn pink. When Lucius felt his point was made, he released his wand from the holster of his cane, allowing the now stretched out tie, partially fall in a coiled mess to the side. Lucius straightened his robes before throwing his nose in the air. The adrenaline of being so violent in the morning had him more awake than swallowing a box of Black Pepper Imps. Lucius grabbed the box holding the snake skin and walked to the study door with a grin on his face.

He stopped in the doorway to look back at Nott. The dark haired man had rolled himself over and was trying to calm down his breathing, but his coughing fit wouldn't allow it. "Good day, Nott."

* * *

Andromeda had only met four men she wanted to violently beat to death in her entire life: Voldemort, Rodolphus Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, and Cornelius Fudge.

Being the middle child, she often found herself having to be the balance between Bellatrix the headstrong, older sister and Narcissa, the spoiled younger sister. Bellatrix was supposed to be the good example and the leader for them all, but Bellatrix had always been a rebel to the core. Narcissa was the younger sibling who seemed to get the most attention along with the most pardons for her mistakes, so Andromeda often found herself being torn in the middle. Their mother and father often found Andromeda to be the most reliable source when having to explain the mess her sisters made, so she often found herself having to try to reel her sister's back into being reasonable instead of going off on some harebrained idea they had, as she was often blamed for not stopping them. Andromeda learned to remain in the background, learn from their mistakes and develop a habit of solving her issues from an objective point of view.

When it came to Fudge though, Andromeda felt like she could relate more to Bellatrix's mindset- if she hadn't discovered her sister fit the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder, something she wished she knew sooner to keep her sister from being extorted by Voldemort. Andromeda had always found Fudge to be a bastard, but her hate for him nearly doubled as she scoured and weaved Crewe's memories of the gala as his own- a touch that had been Lucius' idea. She would have never thought to have an invisible house elf follow the fake Minister around to create a genuine point of view to implant later. Andromeda knew more than anyone else- including Fudge now- how horrible of a person he really was. She thought about murdering him, but she never had the strength that her sister's had to kill someone and the fact that he was still alive mocked her. Specifically fact that he had been rendered inert and half comatose for the entire morning, yet she was _still_ unable to identify who had killed Hermione's parents mocked her and her expertise. _I can't believe he actually thought to erase the identity of the murderer from his own mind!_

So Andromeda did the next best thing- and she hated to admit, at Lucius' suggestion again- she paralyzed him. Or at least he would be paralyzed in several months. The idea was one of Lucius' original plans that they decided against, but she decided that simply ruining his career would not be enough. She was aware that it was her humiliation, the guilt of not being able to find out who murdered Hermione's parents, along with being sleep deprived were clouding her usual decision to practice self-restraint, but she could hardly care at this moment. With a surgical precision that could only be attained by someone who was in her field as long as she had been, she was able to place a lesion timed to burst right along the crown of his head where the primary motor cortex was, all without opening his skull. Druella and Cygnus Black had tried every which way to keep their daughter's fae side locked away, but it was times like these where Andromeda was more than grateful they had ended up at Hogwarts with a headmaster who did not care to have students who were halflings. Their magic that was from the fairy side worked much differently than the magic that wizards had and allowed her to perform the invasive curse without even leaving a scar- something that was important to all three of them if they did not want to be caught. The only drawback was that when they needed to use their powers, they would take the form of a fairy: Large wings, shiny, colored hair with black eyes.

She had just took her hands off of his oily head when she heard Narcissa's heels approaching the room. She had suspected her free time of combing threw Fudge's brain was nearing a close already and she started to morph into her disguise as Dr. Augsen before whispering her instruction into Fudge's ear, who sat staring forward, unblinking. "When I snap my fingers, you will remember you requested my presence for damage control advice. You only allowed your family to be notified after Narcissa and I convinced you that it was the best course of action." She felt the familiar heat of her ears when she heard a lie, even if it was one she said, and closed her eyes. "So mote it be." Andromeda paused allowing the magic to settle before taking a seat across from Fudge. It was always an effort for her to shift back into a human form. She imagined it had something to do with the wizard magic that made her a metamorphmagus as Narcissa and Bellatrix, who were not metamorphmagus, never had an issue shifting from their fae forms.

Only seconds after snapping her manicured fingers, several sets of footsteps stopped in front of the door and Fudge leaned forward with one hand cradling his head as his elbow rested on his knee. "I don't know what got into me-"

"CORNELIUS!" Mrs. Fudge, who looked to be in perfect and _not_ sick at all, pushed open the door to the bedroom Andromeda had worked on Fudge in. Neither of them slept in it, as Andromeda didn't just pull what she could about Paris or the gala, but she also had to sift through and rewrite any conversation afterwards regarding the murders. Not just to cover her tracks, but to attempt to recover what Fudge had already tampered with. It hadn't been an easy task and she had several wizards in mind who were in the very least _involved_, but it was obvious Fudge's memories were not to be relied on. _The one time he showed he had more than two brain cells was the one time I needed him to be nonchalant._

Mrs. Fudge wrapped her arms around her husband's neck in an embrace and he returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around her waist. Osman Fudge, Cornelius' firstborn son, stood behind his mother, black bowler hat in hand one, as his other hand stayed still by his side. "What idea did you let that hussy put in your head?" Andromeda jumped when Mrs. Fudge slapped an open hand on the back of her husband's head. "She probably imperiused you, my _poor_ _husband_." Fudge tried to say something, but his face was buried in his wife's bosom and arm as she immediately hugged him after slapping him. "And who are you?" Mrs. Fudge narrowed her eyes at Andromeda who responded by placing a hand to her chest and pulling back in exaggerated surprise.

Fudge pulled out of his wife's grip and looked up at her. "This is Healer Aquila Augsen. I've must've spoken to you about her before. She is one of the heads of our health department, but I often ask for her opinion on how the populace would react if I make a decision-"

"And did you talk to her last night? Before you decided to go off the bloody deep end?! I always knew you were a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Cornelius, but you really did it now!" Mrs. Fudge pulled back in a rage, her hands on her hips and her foot taping the floor. It reminded Andromeda of the cartoons her daughter Nymphadora would watch.

"No-"

"Well you should've!" Mrs. Fudge slapped both of her thighs in exasperation before turning away to place a hand on her head. Andromeda could see she was getting ready to burst into tears.

"Mum, it's not that bad." Osman looked at his mother with cool green eyes. Dr. Augsen watched the reserved young man closely along with his mother. She thought of everything should could remember about him- he was a graduate from Durmstrang and he was working up to being into the Wizgamont, but other than seeing him around the Ministry, she didn't know anything else. Regardless of what little information she had, she relied on her studys of humans to get her through as her and Narcissa's first interaction with the Fudge family would be the one with the lasting impression. Any suspicion at all between them could mean serious trouble for Andromeda and the Malfoys.

"Not that bad? We'll end up in the poor house after we get chased out of our home by pitchforks! Have you not received any howlers yet? Because your SON AND I HAVE RECIEVED EVERYONE ADDRESSED TO 'THE FUDGE FAMILY!'" Fudge looked up at Mrs. Fudge, eyebrows completely furrowed. His mouth was open as he looked up at her in confusion, no doubt replaying 'his' memories from the night before.

"Actually, my house elf and I have been managing the howlers." Narcissa stood between Osman and Andromeda, hands laced together under her chest. "The Minister has been distressed since Lucius and I had him retreat into the manor so of course I've made sure nothing harmful would reach him."

Mrs. Fudge gave a broad smile at Narcissa. "Thank you. I remember the Malfoys have always worked close with my husband. The way you kept him out of harms way last night is something that I will always remember. I tell him to walk around with an auror or two, but he just thinks he's too big for his britches."

Fudge shook his head and turned in his chair to face his wife. "There's no way I should be receiving a terrible amount of howlers- It's only been hours"

"OH! HOURS? DID YOU NOT FORGET WHO YOU BROUGHT TO THE GALA LAST NIGHT?" Andromeda was impressed at the amount of control Fudge's wife had on how easily she could flip how she wanted to come off. It was evident she was a politician's wife through and through. "Give it to me, Osman."

Osman dug into his inside robe pocket and produced the front page of this morning's _The Daily Prophet_. A photo of Fudge running off stage as hexes, shoes, and conjured food were thrown at him easily took up one third of the newspaper's front page, followed by a _very_ long editorial written by none other than Rita Skeeter.

* * *

**Has Wizarding Britain elected a Quidditch hating Tyrant?**

_What should have been a wholesome, heartwarming gala for the new wizard and muggle _Loving Hands _Orphanage_, _turned into a provoking, disastrous one man political debacle- And yes, _The Daily Prophet _does mean debacle and __**not**_ _debate,_ writes Rita Skeeter Special Correspondent. _Minister of Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge announced last night during the event hosted at the Malfoy's estate, that he feels that Quidditch is dividing Wizards all over the world_. _Recently under fire for the disappearance for the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins- who is supposed to be working with the _Department of Magical Games and Sports in the Ministry of Magic _for this year's World Cup- Minister Fudge drunkenly announced from a makeshift podium that not only did he find that Quidditch was a "distasteful sport", but it was to be banned if he could help it with the many years he planned on being in office. It leaves the public to question if Jorkins disappearance was a coincidence, and if so, why has Fudge not put any effort into looking for her? Several officials, who have requested to remain anonymous, have verified that not a single search party had been sent after Jorkins who last reported to be in Albania over a month ago. Minister Fudge felt the need to talk about how quidditch prevent his foreign relations with Egypt last year..._

Hermione skimmed the rest of the article, lips moving slightly as her eyes darted to and fro. "I can't believe this." She sat in her bed with blanket pulled up to her waist. "He was sober, not drunk." She had the audacity to scoff causing Draco's eyebrows to shoot up. "Why did she not talk about the laundry list of all the other scandalous things he said? Everything up until the last bloody paragraph is about quidditch! Quidditch benefits, quidditch statistics, and _interviews_\- who wanted to be interviewed at 2 AM?"

"I did." Draco grumbled. Draco had assumed everyone at the manor slept in as he discovered breakfast had not yet been prepared when he entered the kitchen this morning. Instead of food, what Draco did find was a copy of this morning's _The Daily Prophet_ and brought it up to Hermione thinking that she would want to see it. He watched her greedily consume the text with anxious eyes and hoped he would be able to approach the subject of what had happened when she disappeared last night.

"Wha- You?" She looked over the article again. Her eyes skimming over the quotes Rita collected to compile into the article, looking for any mention of Draco.

"She didn't use my quote." Draco scowled at the newspaper. "I would have framed it if she did."

Hermione stared at Draco, hoping he was joking, but rolled her eyes when she accepted that he wasn't. "But _I'm _the insufferable one." She placed the paper to her side and got out of bed so she could get dressed for the day.

"Only when you're cranky - Like now." Hermione threw a look at him before getting up and disappearing into her closet to change. She looked at her muggle clothing, still more than annoyed that most of them had been shrunk. She placed a hand over the charmed clothing and could feel the waves of magic, but the waves were much more mild than they had been yesterday and were only a little stronger than holding her wand in her hand. It wasn't something she was completely used to, but she decided it was tolerable if it was a permanent affect.

Hermione thought about wearing the sweater Molly had knitted her with her favorite pair of jeans, but she felt... different today. _Optimistic maybe?_ Hermione pulled the hangers apart to browse the new clothing Narcissa had purchased for her and decided to settle on a white button down blouse and a pair of slacks that flared at the end. She smiled looking down at herself as it was the most simplest thing she had worn outside of Hogwarts that wasn't her muggle clothing.

Upon exiting, she walked over to her vanity and started to brush her hair. She could see Draco watching her in the mirror, with his nose scrunched up. "We're matching again."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh seeing he was right. She thought about making a joke about last night but the clothing had her thinking of all the new movies she must be missing in the muggle world. Hermione wasn't big into watching flicks, but once in a while the Grangers would make a family night by going to the cinema. "We look like the _Men in Black_." He was about to ask who they were till she waved the unspoken question off with her brush. "It's a muggle thing." They both sat in silence and Hermione tried not to stare back at Draco who was now laying on her bed, watching her, as she put her hair in a high ponytail. When Hermione took a step back, she thought she looked presentable- sterile if she had to pick a word- but she was satisfied. The black and white of her clothing made her feel like the physical representation of justice while her hair being pulled back made her feel like she truly was a woman of refreshing candor. Hermione turned to the side and practiced smiling. She didn't feel guilty, but she felt like everyone would be able to see through her today.

Her eyes flickered to Draco who was biting back a snicker at what she was doing in front of the mirror. She looked back into her brown eyes - _Windows of someone's soul they say._ Her stomach dropped. _What does my soul look like? Is it tarnished after yesterday? After last year? Do I remain pure if my reasons for my actions are just._ Hermione swallowed with her next thought. _I don't believe in heaven or hell, so do I even care?_ She blinked several times before shaking her head, coming to the conclusion she always did when she asked herself questions like that. _I want to be a good person._

Hermione took a deep breath before turning to face Draco. At that same moment, she felt a cold presence near the end of her tailbone and placed a hand on her back. _Fudge. _She had briefly forgot that Narcissa had told her and Draco before seeing them off to bed that he would be staying the night. Narcissa had winked at her before disappearing and Hermione knew that what she had only witnessed in the room must have only been the first part of the Malfoy's plan. Remembering what was done last night with a more than clear head had Hermione stumble back and grip the vanity's edge with fear. She didn't regret what she did last night, but she was scared.

_If Lucius, Narcissa, and Andromeda had not been careful, they would all be thrown in Azkaban_. Hermione thought she would be too if the wizgamont decided to search their memories or use a pensive. _What if they decide to put me in St. Mungos instead of Azkaban? Would that be worse? _She thought she was most frightened by what would happen if _she_ had been taken away from the Malfoys until she remembered Draco. _What will happen to Draco? What if I let something slip to Dr. Augsen. _Hermione barely registered the pain in her knees as she dropped to the floor, hands and shoulders shaking. _What if- what if- what if-_

"Hermione, what's wrong? What happened?" Draco gently grabbed one of her hands, but she pulled it away.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. _Hermione couldn't stop trembling as her lungs struggled with breathing properly. The guilt of everything possibly going wrong was consuming her and she just kept thinking of questions to ask Lucius and Narcissa. _I need to know the details of everything. I need to make sure they didn't miss anything-_

"You're going to get through this, okay? I'm right here."

Draco's voice sounded distant and all her eyes would focus on was a single button in the middle of his chest. _I'm panicking. I'm panicking. Make it stop. I need to make it stop._ She heard Draco repeat himself and she struggled to hang on to the soft tone he naturally had. Even when he was drawling, she often found his voice to be suave. _I will get through this. It's too late to avoid this, but I've been through this before. I've had worse- this time I'm not alone. I'm not alone. I'm not alone._ Hermione felt something that was supposed to be a sob rip out of her throat and it made her shake harder. _This would all be my fault if I ruined Draco's life- He's too kind to be parentless like me-_

"Remember how to breathe. Take deep breaths." She felt Draco grab her hand, which helped her take her eyes off of the button of his shirt, to his face. He made a show of taking a huge breath and she tried to mimic him. It took her three failed attempts, but she was finally able to gulp down air at a slower speed speed. "That was good." Draco tried his hardest to remember any new tactics he had found in the Malfoy Library. He had the sneaking suspicion that Hermione may have needed help at the gala - not to mention the World Cup - and wanted to be prepared if she did. "Let's try it again, okay?"

She left like a little kid, but she would be damned if what he was doing didn't help her. After several minutes, she was coming back down and her body only gave soft trembles as evidence of her once all-consuming fear. "Th-Thank-"

"It's all right." Draco wanted to point out he was a quarter fae so she would stop with the pleasantries, but was unsure of what Hermione knew. After he and Narcissa walked Hermione to her room, Narcissa insisted she walk him to his room to help him undress. She then decided to come clean about the plan she and Lucius had for Fudge, but only to explain _what_ Hermione _might_ have seen. Draco was put out he had no clue about it and Hermione ended up helping his parents, but thought they would be even by the end of the summer. Narcissa did warn Draco she was unsure of how much Hermione had saw and had him promise not to say anything to Hermione unless she brought it up. Draco knew better than anyone that even if his mother was half fairy, a promise to her was as good as a full-blooded fairy. "Do you need anything?" Draco rolled his eyes and stood with his hands out to help her. "You haven't had breakfast yet have you?"

Hermione shook her head and grabbed his outstretched hands, allowing him to slowly pull her up. He pulled her by one hand out of her suite and to the stairs. She thought that he was being gracious by not letting go of her hand, but she didn't mind. The warmth of his hand, especially after being in such an emotionally vulnerable position in front of him had her stomach flip-flopping everywhere. _How were we ever enemies before? He's more than just saved my life one time, he's always taking care of me. _Hermione felt something in her chest grow and pool over to the point she made the conscious decision to shut it down. _He- He's my best friend._ The thought was as good as a glass of ice cold guilt being thrown on her. _One of them. I still have Harry and Ron._

Draco glanced over his shoulder when Hermione withdrew her hand to see that she was still following him, but she no longer wanted him to hold her hand. He wouldn't admit out loud that he was taking advantage of the fact she hadn't pulled away initially, but he still didn't like that she decided to fidget with her ring instead. _I shouldn't be trying to hold her hand anyway._ Draco pouted after he took several steps down the stairs, but movement in the corner of his eye had him looking over the banister of the stairs. The movement was caused by the Minister, his family, and Hermione's therapist being led to the front doors by his mother.

At that moment, Narcissa either saw Draco or sensed him too as she looked back at him and smiled. "Good morning Draco. Hermione. I don't believe you two have met the Minister's family." She put a hand out as an invitation for them to join the small group.

Draco and Hermione rushed down the stairs to greet Mrs. Fudge and Osman. When they had joined the group of adults, Hermione couldn't help but smile, despite how badly her chest hurt from her panic attack. "Good morning, it's nice to meet you all." She turned to the Minister who had his eyes cast down to the floor, a worried expression on his face. "How are you feeling today, Minister?"

Fudge tried to smile, but his face wouldn't move pass a grimace. "Fine, dear. Thank you."

Hermione gave a concerned look, but her attention was pulled away by Osman's outstretched hand. "Osman Chlodwig Fudge. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hermione."

Hermione was taken off guard, but hardly missed a beat as she reached up to shake his hand. Hermione thought Osman took after his mother more than he did his father as she looked up into his green eyes and thick auburn hair. She could see some resemblance in his face to Fudge, especially with the thin mustache he seemed to be growing in an attempt to not look so young. Hermione couldn't help but feel he looked familiar, but it was obvious that while he was young compared to the adults around her, she doubt that he was even a seventh year her first year. She stared at his features, trying to place his face, but she was suddenly overcome by a sharp pain above her right eye- right behind the scar on her brow. "Ugh!"

She stepped back with a whimper, covering her face and felt an arm around her. "Hermione, what's wrong?" She recognized Narcissa's voice and wrapped an arm around the woman's waist for comfort.

Someone else wrapped an arm around her and gently pulled her in the opposite direction. "She had a panic attack just now-" Hermione realized the other arm was Draco, and she tried to open her left eye so she could have some visualization. The pain was worse for a second when she opened her eye, but she blinked away the tears forming as she wildly looked around with one eye

Her eyes watered and she kept seeing something yellow bobbing in her vision, but was unable to make out any details of what was in her vision. "Perhaps it's a flashback- We should get her to a private room." Hermione looked over to Dr. Augsen who had just received a nod from Narcissa to leave with Hermione.

Hermione stared at the floor as she was guided down a hall and into a room. Draco didn't let go of her and she didn't pull away this time as she tried to focus on the yellow object in her vision but all she could discern was a series of lines, both curved and straight. The pain in her head seemed to intensify for a breath before it started to dissipate. She squeezed both of her eyes shut just as she walked through a door way and the sound of a door closing was behind her. She wiped at her eyes before slowly opening both of them again, hesitant that the pain would intensify again. Hermione saw Draco and Dr. Augsen watching her with a concerned look and she pulled away to stand on her own. She blinked several more times before starting to carefully look around the room she was brought into, recognizing the table and glass windows from the room she had found Fudge in last night.

Andromeda was relieved to see that Hermione was present and seemingly not going through a flashback at the moment. "How are you feeling? Did the pain disappear?" Hermione gave a slow nod, careful not to do anything too quick. "Have you ever experienced a pain like that before?"

Hermione cleared her throat, finally deciding it was OK to speak. "Not in the same place I did this time." Hermione tenderly pressed a finger to the edge of her brow. "When I get flashbacks it's usually my entire head." Dr. Augsen frowned, usually she would think that it was Hermiones subconscious fighting off a memory charm, but not even she was confident that fae _or_ wizard magic could undo it safely - _But then again... Narcissa _did _break a bond between her and Fudge..._ Andromeda felt a new hope and fear reside within her and took a deep breath, feeling she needed to be in the right state of mind before she entertained any ideas. _I need to sleep, and I'm sure Hermione does too._

Dr. Augsen grabbed Hermione's chin and peered into Hermione's brown eyes. The action surprised Hermione, but she didn't pull away, showing that she trust Dr. Augsen was seeing something she couldn't. "How about we skip today's meeting? You must be tired from a long night of being the perfect socialite."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at that. The last thing she felt like doing after having an eventful night- and morning- was go through the stress of lying to her therapist. No matter how many reasons she had to validate being secretive, she still did not find the task of being disingenuous fun at all. "Are you sure, Doctor?" Hermione looked away bashfully, first at Draco, then at the floor. "I do feel bad you came all this way-"

"Nonsense, you say that like I'm not a witch!" Hermione and Dr. Augsen laughed as Draco reached for the door, sensing that their conversation was nearing an end along with the fact that Hermione was likely to be fine. Hermione's mouth twitched as she went to warm him the door may be locked- if it was true that only Lucius or Narcissa could open the door- but the door opened with a smooth glide just like any other door in the manor.

As Hermione walked out, she couldn't help but question if she actually had the ability to leave at any time. She didn't dwell on it too long though, so long as they were not caught, she wouldn't regret her actions one bit.

_Hermione's arms and face were turned towards the sky as if she had been practicing sun salutations. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the feel of the heat on her pale face. She had always felt that the only thing better from the warmth of the sun's fiery rays were the heat of a fire, so she considered herself content in this moment._

_"Mom used to say that's how we got so many freckles, you know." Hermione's peace was broken as she looked at herself sitting next to her. This version she was looking at though, was younger and without knowing how, she knew it was herself from _before_._

_"I know." Hermione didn't look up at the sky again, feeling almost as if she had been chastised with the simple reminder of how damaging the sun could be. Instead she looked at the two graves she and her pre-orphaned self sat at. Both were in their school uniforms; Older Hermione wearing her Gryffindor attire, and her younger self wearing her primary school uniform. "Why are we here?" Hermione wasn't bothered by the graves in front of her, but she was intrigued. She was unsure who the graves belongs to as they were covered in runes from different origins- most she did not recognize in her first year taking ancient runes- and sigils._

_"Don't be an idiot." Hermione was surprised to look back at her younger self looking so stern with her hands crossed over her chest. "We're mourning- aren't we?" Hermione was taken aback and looked at the gravestones again, searching for any indication that the granite slabs belonged to her parents. She could feel herself start to panic as she crawled forward to get a better look. She racked her brain trying to remember any of the sigils and runes before her, but while she felt like she knew them, the more they mocked her when she focused on one. "You haven't forgotten about them have you? William and Jean _Granger_?" Hermione threw an angry look over her shoulder that had the younger Hermione look away angrily in an attempt to keep looking tough. Hermione looked back at the stone infront of her, and traced one marking with her hand. She could never forget her parents, but what she _did _feel was that she forgot how to read even though she was more than certain that she had not seen these markings before. "I can't believe I'm going to become a barmy bint who doesn't even remember her parents."_

_"I am not..." Hermione looked back to where her younger self was sitting again, but found she had disappeared along with the sun. She was completely alone and in the distance, she could hear water flowing and gurgling as if she was by a river. Slowly, she untwisted her body to face the gravestone in front of her. She didn't know why or how, but she knew when she looked back, she would find the engraving on it had changed. The gravestone only had one sigil on it now, and when Hermione looked at the other one that marked where her father would stay for eternity, she saw that it mirrored her mother's headstone by only having the single marking on it. She heard footsteps coming up from behind her, and while she still on the grassy knoll of her parent's grave, the echos of the footfalls sounded as if they were falling on cobblestone- just like they did in Paris._

_Slowly, she turned to sit against the gravestone, trembling as she did. She knew who she would see, but still, her heart rate quickened as a scream made it's way to her throat. She would never be prepared for seeing the boots that shined as if they were polished twice a day, the pant slacks that were measured down to the man's perfect height, the edge of his trench coat or the wand that he shoved in her face before greeting her._

_"'Ello, Crumpet."_

* * *

Draco started his day like he normally did; he showered, he got dressed, and then he ate.

After eating, he usually went back to his room to do his holiday work, practiced his piano playing, or went to the greenhouses. Usually he was accompanied by Hermione, but today, he had snuck out to the greenhouses by himself. Unfortunately, he was unable to bring back any of the flowers but the roses and today he planned on planting them as a surprise to Hermione. He didn't think his mother or father would have been completely against a memorial to Hermione's muggle family, but to avoid clashing with any traditional views his parents would be harboring, Draco picked out an area that Narcissa didn't go into often, but was maintained well enough to be respectful enough for a memorial.

When he was done, he stood up and clapped his hands together to get off any excess dirt he had on his gloves while he admired his work. Days before, he had picked out a sizable rock and with his best attempts at calligraphy, he made a headstone that read 'In memory of the Grangers.' None of it was in his taste at all- if he could, he would have _actually_ had a headstone made, but without being able to use his wand or have something ordered wihtout his parents noticing, there was nothing more he could do. He only hoped that Hermione would appreciate it. He felt nervous about showing Hermione what he had done, not just because he fancied her, but because this _was_ a big deal for her. Draco looked down at the pink gardening gloves his mother had and decided that even though he didn't get a speck of dirt on his skin he was going to take another shower.

While he showered, he asked for Crewe to prepare his lunch before accessing the wards to verify where Hermione was. He thought he could find her in the library, pouring over books and tomes of hallucinogenic potions, but didn't find her there. Instead she was still in her room. After he was dressed, he walked to her suite door and could hear music playing from the other side of the door. He knocked a little harder than usual before cracking open the door.

"_I'm a shoulder you can cry on / Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on / You were always sure of yourself / Now I see you've broken a feather / I hope we can patch it up together."_

Draco didn't miss how different the atmosphere was as he walked by the altered gramophone. The air was heavy like it was the first few times he had heard Hermione playing her cello. Despite the spinning of the record, he made out the name _ABBA _knew that whatever was playing was muggle. The door to Hermione's room was open and could see that she was laying in her side, back to the door as she cried. He felt like he was invading her privacy and started to back out, thinking that it may be better to give her some time for the day. They spent nearly every day of summer together and he didn't need his parents to tell him how some people like their space.

When he made to turn around, he accidentally bumped into one of the chairs by the fire place and he nearly kicked it out of frustration of the pain that shot up his foot. He quickly picked it up, but Hermione had already heard him and he could hear her feet crossing the carpeted floor towards the entrance of her bedroom.

"_Chiquitita, you and I know / How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving / You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end."_

The first thing that Draco noticed as she peered around the corner to look at where he stood was her eyes; They looked small from how swollen they were due to how long and how hard she had been crying. They also held something that gave him the same empty feeling that dementors seemed to give anyone who walked around them and he didn't know if he wanted to run in fear of her taking her pain out on him, or stay so she didn't have to go threw it alone. The next thing he noticed was how pink her skin was along with how messy her unbrushed hair was. It was even worse than it was the morning of the gala and he wanted to help her fix it. He wanted to say the idea was dumb, but fixing up his space or his clothing so he maintained his pristine look was what helped him. Maybe it was because Lucius wouldn't allow him to be healed after Draco was punished, but he tried not to think too much about it.

"I want to be alone today." Her voice was raspy and he couldn't help but think about how he wanted her to feel better.

Hearing her voice made up his mind on if he would run or stay. "Hermione..." Draco took a step forward even though he was scared. Half of him was scared - Scared of how she would react to what he planned on doing, scared he may have been doing the wrong thing. The other half of him knew that she shouldn't be left alone. He didn't know how he knew this, although he imagined it had something to do with the yearning in her bloodshot eyes. She wanted her parents and while that wasn't something he could arrange, he thought maybe he could offer the next best thing:

A hug and a promise she didn't have to go through anything alone.

When he was right in front of her, he slowly pulled her in. If there was even one twitch of resistance and he would back off and disappear. He felt like she was more fragile than the finest china, but Hermione needed help - Whether she wanted it or not, and he finally understood that. She could put a front for Harry and Ron, but she was past that with him and his family. _Her_ _family now,_ he reminded himself.

He didn't relax into the hug until she gave in to him. She had tried to will herself to move away but the only thing she had succeeded in was making her lips tremble and her eyes water. She wondered how many times she would break down and how many times she had to let herself be vulnerable. Hermione sobbed into his chest and wanted to apologize for being in hysterics half the time. She wanted to apologize for being a burden and for just... being. Hermione found her thoughts were starting to turn suicidal again and she felt herself gripping him harder. She didn't want to be alone like she had told him and she didn't want to die.

She just wanted the pain to stop.

"Dr- Dr- Draco-o." He pulled back without letting go of her and looked down at her pink face. He found himself pushing her hair back again, but could hardly find himself shy about it given the situation. She needed someone to care for her at this moment and he decided it would be him until he could let his mother know- but only if Hermione would allow it. "Why did they have to die?" Draco held his breath. _Her healer should be owled._ Doubt started to creep into his mind that he was the person she needed right now, but he wouldn't let go of her. He was stuck, mostly because he was in too deep now, but he refused to run. He told himself this would be practice for the world cup- he wouldn't be able to leave her side then so he thought he should be used to being by her side now. "I miss them- I can't- I can't forget-" Whatever she said afterwards was unable to be made out between her sobs and her muffled speech due to her refusing to fully look up at him.

They didn't move until Crewe came in with Draco's lunch, and even then, Hermione didn't notice the house elf come into her suite. She had stopped crying, although her small frame still shook with an occasional dry sob and Draco decided it was then safe enough to coax her back into bed where he forced her to drink the water the elf brought up before trying to get her to eat half of his sandwich. She simply shook her head at him and instead nibbled at the tangerines that accompanied the mid-day meal.

_"Barley awake, I let precious time go by / Then when she's gone, there's that odd melancholy feeling / And a sense of guilt I can't deny."_

They had sat in silence while Hermione was left with tremors from overusing her lungs. Draco tried not to feel awkward, but feelings are what he usually ran from. He didn't know what to do other than try and do what he wished someone else would have done for him when he was in distress. So far it was working and Hermione looked a little better, but he could only since a _shift_ in the air, not a full on _change_.

"_The feeling in it slipping through my fingers all the time / Do I really see what's in her mind / Each time I think I'm close to knowing."_

"Does-" He didn't want to sound like a prat, but he already started to speak and Hermione was watching him as she waited for him to finish. "Does this music help?" Draco glanced between her and the plate of food between them. He didn't need to be raised with _ABBA _to know the song was depressing.

Hermione looked up at him before letting her eyes drift to the wet spot she left on his shirt. She wanted to apologize for that too, but instead let her eyes slid all the way down to her own lap. "I don't know. Mom used to sing these songs to me though."

The song ended and one that sounded much more happier came on so he dropped the subject of changing the record for now. When he looked up at her, he ran a hand though his hair with the realization of what he finally came to terms with. He cared for her. He cared for her more than he had for anyone that wasn't his parents before and wanted her better. If he never admitted it to himself before, how he reacted to her was made it more than evident to him now: _I fancy her. I fancy and want her to be happy._

"Hermione," Draco cleared his throat and stood up. He thought standing was too much for what he wanted to say so he sat in her desk chair instead. "I feel like I haven't made myself clear when... I said I was your friend." He paused to allow Hermione to speak and realized she probably didn't want to. He was fine with that as it would have allowed him not to loose his nerve. "When I said it, I meant it. I don't have the same history as you do with... Potter and Weasley," Draco thought now wasn't the time to insult her friends and thought he saw appreciation when he said their surnames, but was unsure. "You can come to me about anything. Your secrets are safe with me and I may not know what I'm doing with this whole friendship thing, but I'll do everything I can to help or keep you safe." _Was that too much? _During his small speech, he ended up fixating on the space between her eyes instead of actually looking at any of her other facial features. He wanted to reassure her, but not over whelm her. He was afraid he sounded like he was trying to confess his feelings for her - which was something he did not want to do, he could only see that stressing her out even more.

"I know," Her voice was still very croaky. "At least about you protecting me. After- When I was dancing with Blaise, I asked him what you meant when you told Pansy that you warned all of Slytherin house about me." Draco blinked and leaned back a little when he realized what he had let slip out at the gala on Friday. "Blaise eluded to it before, but I forgot to ask you what he meant. I didn't think you asked _all_ of Slytherin to stop bullying me."

Draco's fists clenched and he felt anger towards his other friend once more. He didn't want her to know he had done anything for her - especially when it was so early into her living with them. "He said I asked?"

For the first time since Hermione woke up from her nightmare, one side of her lips turned upward. "No, he didn't. He said that a few generic threats were made on my behalf and that word spread quickly." Her lips twitched once more and she slid another slice of fruit into her mouth. "And Crabbe had been made an example of in the common room." Hermione could feel the memory of the news start to chip away at the deadly ache within her. She had been thrilled to hear Draco had done so much for her when she thought he still probably saw her as filth so early in their school year.

"Crabbe had also pissed me off that day. It just worked in my favor."

She gave a huff of air that was supposed to be a snort. "Sure." Hermione didn't mind what the truth was about Crabbe having his ass handed to him as she wasn't fond of Crabbe in the first place. Draco didn't have a reply and was more relieved that he wasn't getting chewed out by her like he thought he would when she discovered the act of violence. Again they sat in silence, but this time Draco was slightly more relaxed - that was until she spoke again. "Do you remember when you saved my life?" Her voice sounded mousy as she replayed the events leading up to that moment in her head. The dissociation, the cold walk up the drafty tower, looking at the sunset.

"Of course." His voice sounded warm and she held on to his words, liking how she could hear the comfort in his voice.

"I- I owe you the truth." She sighed deeply and turned her ring inward before closing her hand over it in a fist. The dull pain let her know that the numbness she was feeling on the inside was only temporary and that she would feel 'normal' in time. "I was. I was up there because I was going to-" Hermione didn't understand how hard it was to just say the words. _I was going to kill myself._

"You don't have to-" Draco put the tips of two fingers on to her knee, unfamiliar with the simple movement, but instinct told him it would help.

"I do! I need to." Another deep breath and the words came out in a rush. "I need to tell you that I wanted to die. I was going to try a second time that day when the dementor made me faint. I had lost my nerve and ended up fainting before I could get off the ledge, but that's why I was up there." Hermione felt both relief and guilt when she finished speaking. _Does he hate me? Will he tell Narcissa and Lucius? _"That's the truth." Hermione murmured the last bit before looking down at her fist. _Do I want them to know too?_

She didn't know what to expect, but she knew what she didn't expect was another hug. Maybe they were both touch deprived from their parents, obviously for different reasons, but Hermione put his arms around him once she got out of her brief stupor. She inhaled his scent deeply and imagined herself storing the memory of his smell on an imaginary shelf she had labeled as 'comfort' right next to the smell of her mum and dad.

"What did you mean by 'second time'?" This time, he was the one speaking low. He had never felt this type of panic and empathy for anyone else before and it scared him. Not the feelings itself, but what it would have meant if she had succeeded. _How would I have taken it? How much hurt has she felt without anyone noticing?_ Draco felt his muscles tighten around her once when he thought of Harry, Ron, and her therapist. _They were the ones who were supposed to be looking out for her. When I seem them, I'll-_

"I chickened out that time, too." She pulled away from him, but kept one of his hands in hers to fidget with while she spoke. Sometimes she would do this with Harry or Ron when reading something, but it was the first time she had ever done with with Draco. "I shouldn't label it as an attempt I think. An attempt at an attempt maybe." Another flash of guilt washed over her. She felt so... _dumb._ As if she wasn't allowed to say she had attempted such heinous acts unless she was found dying or dead.

"I don't- I don't think chickening out matters - in that sense." Draco felt his heart racing and knew is was a mixture of Hermione playing with his hand along with the topic of conversation. It was an unfamiliar territory, but he recognized it for what it was: What he said right now would mean the world to her. He knew he couldn't mess this up and didn't ask her to elaborate on what had happened no matter how much he wanted to know the details. Draco thought it would have been like someone asking him to give a play by play on a beating he received from his father meaning it would have been disrespectful and untactful. "What you went through, what you felt, was real enough to get you to that point. You can't beat yourself up over something like that." She froze in place and Draco chose to grip her hand instead. Hermione looked up at him and if they were any other setting with different circumstances, he might have taken advantage of the charged feelings in the air. "I am so happy you're here though. I- You're a great person. You've been a real friend and mother seems to like having you around a lot. You're family, you know."

_Family._ Hermione's heart soared at the words and this time, she was the one to initiate the hug. _Family._ She thought of Narcissa, then Lucius. _Yes, even Lucius._ Although she thought it would be best to hear it from Lucius himself, she was still overjoyed from Draco speaking on his father's behalf.

_Family._ She knew at that moment she was selfish when she thought of Draco again, but she couldn't help but be disappointed as she thought _he sees me as a sister._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also want to take the time to thank each and every one of you for being so awesome with my fic. I cant wait to start posting again in 1-2 months and I sincerely hope that all is well with each and every one of you. Remember to keep in touch and get updates. I am posting regularly in my fb group:
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarryarWrites


	35. Snake Skin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed this fic so much. I hope you are all doing well, and again, thank you so much for your continued patience! I wanted to post a chapter in my hiatus as a reminder I am still here and thinking of you all. I will be posting the next chapter on 8/28/20 as I want to continue my hiatus (it really has helped A LOT.) Please enjoy and remember to stay safe!
> 
> I have also decided I am going to break up the series into three parts only so I can properly tag it for those who need warnings. This will be part one (Covering years 3 and 4), the next part will be part two (Covering 5 and 6), while the last part will be covering year 7 and so on.
> 
> If you notice the tags on this fic change, that is why. Thank you for your understanding.

Hermione rotated the wand in her hands in amazement. Money, she kept learning, could buy _a lot. _It really just depended on how much you could afford and who was willing to sell.

Hermione was also learning that the Ministry as a whole was becoming more and more untrustworthy. She frowned when she looked at the base of the wand to find the Ministy's seal in a bright Zima blue at the bottom. She remembered Professor Bins had mentioned that the Ministry made wands that barely met the requirements for them to be used by _any_ wizard and it wasn't hard for her to imagine that these were it. Between the seal and the haphazard way she felt her magic connecting with the wand, there was no doubt that these were originally kept in stock for the aurors to cycle through as needed.

"Lucius bought these you said?" Hermione looked at the one that Draco had in his hands. Unlike Hermione, he was not surprised to be in possession of the illegal wand and had already started making spell gestures in the air. Occasionally a spark would fly off the tip of his wand, but the more he got used to it, the less it happened.

"Yes. Usually, Professor Snape would be here as your tutor and it makes little sense getting past the basics to practice magic without a wand." Narcissa answered with a very leveled tone before looking Hermione in the eye. "Now, you promise not to talk about anything that is done here at the manor with anyone else, won't you?"

Hermione didn't think anything of it when she saw Draco stop in mid-air to look at his mother. "Of course." Hermione watched Narcissa's eyes temporarily turn black before resuming their bright color. The image tickled a memory of the night of the gala and she pushed it away as she often did, not wanting to think about how much the images she _thought_ she saw bothered her. Thankfully, Draco was by her side to distract her.

"I think she's trustworthy." Draco set his Ministry wand down as he drawled. "She helped with Fudge - which I still say was not fair-"

"That wasn't on purpose!" Draco shot her a smile and a green spark flew off her wand at the thought of hexing him. She often realized too late that he _liked_ seeing her riled up and would purposefully antagonize her. "Or maybe it was, I _am_ more competent with spell work." Hermione focused her intent and did the motion for _wingardium leviosa_ and not a single spark appeared as if to punctuate her point.

He immediately scoffed and crossed his arms. "Nothing compared to my potions marks tho-"

"Don't you dare start." Narcissa said to both of them. "Lucius had come across something that I don't think they've restored to the Hogwarts' Curriculum. I don't want to hear another word from either of you unless it is going to be something about today's subject." Narcissa conjured a cardboard box to the library desk the three of them stood at before transfiguring the box around the object into a protective cloth. Hermione's nose immediately scrunched up seeing what laid before them was snake skin. She bent closer to it, wondering if this had any resemblance to the basilisk skin Harry and Ron described to be hidden in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Is that shedding from a creature?" Draco's face was also wrinkled up, but from disgust instead of deep thought.

"It is." Narcissa had amusement think in her voice as she waited for one of them to ask a question.

"What are we going to do with it?" Hermione was hesitant ti ask her question since Narcissa looked too _pleased_ with her question and Narcissa looked over at Draco for the answer. It took him a minute before realization dawned on his face and he threw his head back with a groan.

"Please mother, not this again." Hermione winced at the groan Draco let out, knowing Narcissa was not going to take the reaction well.

Narcissa feigned being completely appalled at his lack of manners and turned to the portrait that was hanging only several feet away. "Danita, tell me something."

The Malfoy ancestor looked up from it's intricate brass frame that was hanging in the middle of the library looked up at Narcissa. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Malfoy Manor," Narcissa gave a careless flick of her wrist to motion at the rest of the building. "It is in fact a _manor_ correct?"

"Technically it is a mansion, but it was a manor before I expanded it."

"I see, I see. _A_ _mansion._" Narcissa took a moment to look around as if she was seeing the grandiose home for the first time. "Not a barn?"

"No, ma'am," Danita held a look of confusion on her face at Narcissa's question and Hermione bit her lip to stop her laughter. "Malfoys had never lived in a barn."

"That's what I thought!" Narcissa's laugh reminded Hermione of the one her parent's receptionist would give when a patient told a joke that wasn't funny. "For some reason though, my son has this idea he _was_ raised in a barn!" Hermione put her hands over her face to hide her laughter while Draco looked away with his arms folded, face twisted in a scowl, and his cheeks a furious pink. Narcissa didn't speak again until Danita's laugh had subsided, after the painting finally grasped understanding of the joke. Seeing Draco was in a sour mood, Narcissa gave him time to cool off as she explained the task to Hermione. "This skin belonged to a magical creature. I'm going to ask for both you and Draco to work together on figuring out what type of creature, the sex, the age..." She carefully reached into the box and lifted the cardboard piece the skin rested on. "Et cetra. I would like to discuss your findings after you finish writing an eight inch essay on your discoveries before the Quidditch Cup Tournament."

"That's only a week away and it took me a week alone to gather the information on the centaur hooves you gave me last summer." Draco kept his voice down and his tone mostly controlled, but Narcissa still gave him a warning look at his protest before summoning a stack of parchment and two vials of ink.

"Since you've done this once before, Draco, you'll have a better idea on how to get started, not to mention there are two of you now for the practical exercise. Besides," Narcissa gave a pleasant smile that didn't exactly reach her no nonsense stare. "If you don't finish it before then, you'll still have two weeks before the term starts."

Narcissa started to walk away, but Hermione stopped her, completely taken off guard that the only instruction they had was to come back in ten days with an essay. "Is there nothing else for us to go off of, ma'am?"

Narcissa looked down at her hands before looking back up at Hermione. "Not to be dramatic, but in life you're seldom giving any warning or mercy when something is thrown at you. Draco knows what I will be expecting so he can let you know what to look for. However, I have found that lessons often stick better when a spell isn't outlined for you to repeat."

Hermione nodded her understanding after a moment of analyzing what Narcissa had just said. _It made sense._ She glanced between the desk and a brooding Draco, before nudging him in the side. "Let's get started then." Hermione smiled, trying to muster up being excited about possibly learning something new, but she was secretly frustrated. Not only did she already loose time earlier today from having her Wednesday therapy session, but now she was expected to possibly lose an entire week from figuring out what she drank.

She wasn't going to argue with Narcissa though. Hermione was now starting to accept that maybe there was more to Narcissa's eyes turning black. Something related to the shadows and lights she was _trying_ to convince herself her imagined after Narcissa broke the magical contract Fudge had over her.

* * *

Reading books upon books of creatures all day did nothing to help the wicked imagination Hermione was trying hard to suppress. _I've seen her eyes before, why am I unnerved by it now?_ Hermione was pacing in her room, stomach full from tonight's dinner, as she replayed the three times she saw Narcissa's eyes like that. _Four times I reckon if I would have just looked at her._ Hermione stopped and placed her hands over her face. _Stop that. I don't know what I saw - a lot happened that night._ Even when Hermione put the heel of her palms into her eye sockets, it did not stop her from replaying the memory of the night of the gala; Narcissa reaching in between her and Fudge, her hands wrapping around the magical gold cord before snapping it. Although that wasn't the part that currently had her forming a rut in the wood floors: it was the memory of what she saw in her peripheral while still being in shock, on her knees, with an inhuman Narcissa by her side.

Hermione squashed the details of the memory, writing off the shimmering light she saw from Narcissa was from her dress and the shadow of Hemiptera wings was just the smoke from the potion. _Maybe it was just a late and sporadic after affect of what Theo gave me._ _Everything was in my peripheral view, and there's a chance I was not luciud at all._ Hermione dragged one palm down her face before she stopped mid-step at her next thought.

_Lucid. Lucius._ Hermione looped one finger into her necklace. Thinking over her interaction with the man, it was clear to her that there was a greater chance of getting an answer a straight answer from him than with Narcissa. Hermione scrunched her nose as she looked at the door of her bedroom. _Would it be worth the risk of offending him to ask? He's proud, and can be rude._ Hermione turned away from the door to fall back into the path she had adopted to walk back and forth on. _But he's also been more honest than not. Crude, but not a liar. _Hermione played as many interactions as she could of Lucius Malfoy, trying to calculate if there was any way she could be wrong. _I could say I wanted to ease the fear that I am hallucinating- but then he would think I had finally lost my mind unless I try to tell him about Nott._ Hermione paused a second time before her pride had her shaking her head at that. _No, I'm not admitting to my dependency. It'll be more trouble than it's worth and I can control it. I don't need it._ Her tongue darted out to wet her lips at the thought of the calming draught, and she was disgusted with herself. _Or I could just tell him the truth. A truth for a truth, perhaps..._ Hermione's eyes slid to the door. _Well I'm not going to ask Narcissa. _Hermione took a deep breath, to the point her whole chest and shoulders were engaged before letting out a huge exhale.

Hermione went to her desk drawer to pull out a stone that was on a thick, leather cord. Hermione had never needed to use the heavy stone outside of her room and was a bit nervous with how bright the glowing rock would be in the hallways. When she got to the suite door, she noticed the only noise in her ears was the sound of her own heart beating at a rapid pace. While Hermione was aware that rules sometimes got in her way, she liked _following_ rules, like the one that Narcissa placed about she and Draco staying in their rooms after a certain time. Hermione knew it was several hours past that time, but she was keenly aware she was headstrong to a fault. _It's not like it would be your first time breaking curfew_, she bitterly reminded herself. With that thought, she held the what Narcissa had called a Gaia Stone to her lips. "_Lumos_." The rock emitted a glow that was somewhere between lime green and aquamarine, but it was more than enough for her to get through the manor.

As Hermione walked, she decided to hide the glowing stone underneath a bunched up portion of her night dress so she could dim the light and lower the risk of drawing unwanted attention to herself. It was bad enough she could hear the deceased wizards in the portraits around her stirring from their sleep so she proceeded to creep past them by walking on her toes. Hermione was thankful for the pre-pointe classes she had as a child as the muscle memory kicked in and her calves were not easily fatigued, allowing her to slipp around the manor with confidence.

At least she was confident until she made it to Lucius' study. Looking at the double doors in front of her, was much different that _thinking_ about approaching them. _If he's here, then I'll ask. If he is not here, I'll leave it alone. _She placed her hand on the door before pulling back again. _What if he just kicks me out?_ Hermione huffed and clenched both of her fists in front of her out of frustration of what she labeled as cowardice. _Well I'm ready here._ _Worst he can do is-_ She froze, thinking that maybe she wasn't a coward for wanting to be safe. _He could tell Narcissa._ _It would insult her, she would think-_

Hermione never got the chance to turn around. One of the doors opened and before her stood Lucius Malfoy, feeling as dumbfounded as she looked. Hermione's mouth was hanging half open, her mind completely blank from being caught off guard while Lucius was equal parts confused and tired. Between he and Narcissa, Lucius would have thought Hermione would be more willing to approach his wife, but instead she had decided to seek him out. Lucius gave a small shake of his head, usual manners being delayed from how tired he already felt, before he stepped to the side and gestured with his arm for her to enter his study. "Hermione. Would you like some tea?"

Still in awe, she stepped inside without a second thought. When the door clicked closed was when her brain seemed to start working again. _He was going to bed, I'm being a bother._ Hermione watched the lamps that had just been put out, become re-lit with the a swift arc from Lucius' wand. He continued the unspoken wand work as he crossed the room and by the time he stood behind his desk, he had conjured a teapot and a whole tea set - this one much more plain looking than the peacock one they drank out of before.

"Would you like to take a seat?" Lucius was filling the floating metal teapot with water as he eyed her with curiosity. Hermione whispered a quick '_Nox_' to the stone before taking a seat across from him. "I assume Chamomile will be sufficient before bed?"

Hermione sat with her back straight, wanting to copy the cool and formal air that Lucius always seemed to have around him. Even now when he had the ribbon to keep his hair in a pony tail was pulled out and his tie loosened, she found herself secretly admiring he always managed to look like he was the most put together person in the room. "Chamomile would be lovely."

Another swish of his wand and the metal tea pot started to whistle signaling the water had immediately started to boil. Lucius grabbed the metal tea pot before pouring it into the more decorative one, starting the steeping process of the flowery herbs. "Would you like to tell me why you are out and about at such a late hour? I know Narcissa has informed you it is frowned upon." Lucius didn't look at her as he sat down, and instead he started to make himself busy with his wand. He started by tidying up the papers on his desk into three neat piles before he pulled her chair closer to the desk so she wouldn't be too far from her cup when served.

_There it is. _Hermione scowled as she looked down at a book on the dark wood. _No- I won't be cross with myself. I came here for answers, and I knew there was only one way to get them_. When she opened her mouth to speak was when she actually processed the title of the thick book and her eyebrows raised in surprise. "The Art of War? It's a good read." Lucius made a noise in the back of his throat. "A muggle read." Lucius looked her in the eye, but Hermione looked away first, not wanting to come out on the offensive with Lucius for once. She wanted to be petty and smile at the fact that she might have had the chance to make Lucius uncomfortable, but somehow the attack didn't seem as satisfying as it might have been several months ago. "I... I didn't mean anything by it. My mother was fond of the book."

Lucius chose not to answer and started to serve their tea with tense eyebrows. "Do you need me to cast a cooling charm?" Hermione blew on the tea before taking a loud sip to test the temperature.

"Oh no, I actually like it this way. Gives me more of a chance to enjoy it." Hermione nervously rubbed the pad of her pinky over the handle of the tea.

_So she wants a lengthy conversation, how peculiar. _Lucius nodded before placing his wand down on the desk, not bothering to cast a cooling charm on his tea.

"You have an ancestor who has a dry sense of humor, you know. I noticed that the manor has several six panel doors. The church designed them and it has an image of a cross and of an open bible." She raised the ceramic cup to her chin. "They were designed to keep witches out."

Lucius fought off a smile. _Narcissa was right, better to take in Hermione than a little brat like Milicent Bulstrode-_ _Or Pansy Parkinson. _Lucius felt the urge to smile fade as he thought of his possible future daughter-in-laws. _It's a shame that those two are the most eligible for Draco of the Sacred Twenty-Eight._ "Surely you didn't show up at my study for a midnight chat. Is there something on your mind you need to discuss with me? Or perhaps you're in need of another howler?"

Hermione gave a small smile at the memory. _That feels like it was ages ago._ Hermione glanced at the letter filing cabinet behind her before placing her tea on the ceramic saucer. She summoned the courage in one deep breath and looked Lucius in the eye when she spoke. "I wanted to talk about Narcissa. Specifically the night of the gala."

_Oh_. Lucius didn't even twitch to make sure he gave nothing away. He didn't want Hermione's route on the conversation to change based on how he reacted so he took care precaution in controlling himself. Lucius took another sip fro his cup, waiting for Hermione to continue. He was determined to learn everything Hermione saw before he decided to speak to avoid spoiling the truth prematurely. "You shouldn't fidget, Hermione. It's terrible body language."

With the silence Lucius had given her, before choosing not to address her statement, she couldn't help it. To show tht she was listening to him, she placed her palms on her knees and tried to still her hands. "I looked up the fifty-percent law on wands. Narcissa and Draco thought it important so I looked into it. I saw it was a law that you helped pass." Lucius took a deep breath and set his cup down, but Hermione didn't take the hint. "The law permits anyone who can prove their humanity and that they are not more creature than wizard is allowed to have a wand." Hermione had the decency to squirm at the heavy look Lucius was giving her. Her eyes drifted back to _The Art of War_ as she gripped the fabric of her dress. "I was under the impression that the Malfoys were pure blood supremacists in every way." _Chin up and don't mumble._ She rolled her shoulders back and sat up a little more remembering the memory of her mother and looked up at Lucius. She was taught to be more proud when she needed to confront somebody and she reminded herself that the topic of conversation was her doing. She shouldn't allow the uncomfortableness of it stop her now.

"I'm not sure how the night at the gala, my thoughts on halflings, and a law that was put back into place after being removed by a previous Malfoy are connected." Lucius lied. He resisted the urge to put a shot of fire whiskey in the tea as he watched the young woman carefully.

Hermione wasn't buying it though. If she did, that meant that she had to admit she was crazy and hallucinating again. She also looked into what happened to delusional wizards who were beyond rehabilitation and decided she was _not_ even going to entertain the mere idea of going down that road if she could help it. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Lucius with a level of determination she hadn't felt since she was last in the shreiking shack. "Lucius, I don't want to come across as insensitive, but that's a load of poppycock." Lucius bit the inside of his cheek to keep his face straight and decided to hide behind taking another drink of his tea. "The Malfoys have a name for themselves as being purist. The Malfoy family motto even reflects this ideal and yet this law was managed to be voted back in several months before you and Narcissa were to marry. Perhaps the timeline of it could be coincidence, but it still does not explain why you would get involved with the rights of anything less than pureblood. Unless you were to veto it, of course."

Lucius was silent as he mulled over what Hermione was saying. He thought he should deny Hermione's claims, but he felt like there was more to what she was thinking. "This is very little to go off of and I am still not seeing how this is related to the gala."

Hermione swallowed hard. The idea of what it meant to be wrong taunted her and a sweat started to break on her brow. "It isn't a lot, not really. I know that, but from what I have seen, you aren't the type of person to get involved in anything you don't want to." Hermione sniffled as she started to slip into a rant. "You and mum would have gotten along well, I think. Both of you only move with a purpose."

Lucius found himself not knowing what to say to that as he could practically see the '_if only you didn't despise muggles_' hanging off the end of her statement. "And the gala?"

Hermione decided then to buy herself time by picking her tea back off of the desk. The amber liquid was no longer piping hot and she was able to take a large gulp with ease. _Please don't think I'm crazy. _"When... Fudge tried to kill me," Hermione wet her lips as saying the words just felt... Weird. As if it was something that should have never happened, but it somehow did. "Narcissa intervened. "She didn't _look_ like herself. I thought- I thought her hair looked like it had more of a shine to it and she had wings." Hermione paused when the bottom rim of the cup clanked against the saucer a couple times when her nervousness hit her full force. "I thought if anyone would tell me the truth..." Her voice was back to a whisper and she hated it. When she took another drink of her tea, the cup only stopped its clattering when she finally decided to set it back down on the desk. _If I thought that sounded barmy in my head, why did I think coming here and telling him about-_

"Are you implying that Narcissa is not completely human?"

Hermione knew that Lucius might have used the opportunity to make her feel foolish, but thinking it had only prepared her for a small amount of the shame she actually felt. _I must be loosing it._ Her hands balled into fists as tears pool in her eyes. _He's right. None of this makes sense! I'm becoming more unraveled by the day and am no longer the smart witch everyone thinks I am- _"Lucius, I-... Are you all right?"

Lucius had initially opened his mouth to gaslight Hermione into thinking she was crazy, but stopped when he saw how despondent she grew. The feeling of - dare he say - sympathy caught him off guard, but he accepted that messing with her head may do more harm than good. When he tried to confirm what she saw though, he ended up opening and closing his mouth in a similar fashion a fish would, but no matter how hard he tried, Lucius was unable to produce any other sound except from the one of him choking on his words. He ground his teeth together knowing that this was Narcissa's doing and there was no way around it. "Yes." While Andromeda had the unique gift of detecting lies, Narcissa was gifted with creating binding magical contracts by speech alone. Any promise with her was a dangerous one as she is able to manipulate what she decides to interpret from the wizard's words. Lucius poured himself more tea to moisten his mouth before speaking again. _Perhaps... _"I think this is a conversation that Narcissa should be having with you, but I'm willing to work something out if you can make a deal."

"A deal?" Confusion from Lucius' verbal whiplash had her rubbing unshed tears from her eyes.

"Yes. I'm sure you are aware that... _we_ are supposed to have a group therapy session tomorrow?" Hermione nodded, too concerned of what he will ask in exchange for information. Lucius smiled as he got up to lean against the edge of the desk that was near her. "Well the plan isn't just to talk about your progress. In fact," Lucius stroked a thumb across his jawline in thought. "It is about you and Professor Snape." Hermione was too surprised to attempt stopping herself from blanching, and Lucius' knew he had her pinned. "I will entertain one of your earlier..." Lucius nodded his head from side to side as he searched for the word he wanted to use. "Notions, though. Let's say Narcissa, and in turn Draco, was mixed with..." his throat started to constrict and he knew he had to tread lightly. "Something. That could make them much more magical than even the purest of purebloods, despite the crossbreeding." Lucius paused to give Hermione time to digest his words in full. "So, a truth for a truth? You tell us the truth tomorrow about what had happened between you, Sirius, Buckbeak and Severus - not some half brewed story about a purist student antagonizing you- and I will make sure you learn what you desire about my wife."

_A truth for a truth? Is he mad? Does he not know what would happen if Dr. Augsen knew what I did?_ Hermione felt tears swimming in her eyes again, but this time from anger and hurt. She stood up, hands balled into fits as she looked up at Lucius. "You're just wanting me to sound crazy in front of Dr. Augsen, don't you?" Hermione stood, her face fixed with a distraught expression. "So she can send me off, and you'll never have to deal with me again!" _I wasted my time coming here, he just thinks this is a game!_ Hermione searched for a clue on the blonde man's face to prove her right, but her resolved weakened when he didn't laugh or dismiss her for acting a fool in the first. _Could I actually be right and Lucius is willing to _help _me?_

_What an interesting turn._ "Hermione," His voice wasn't exactly soft, but it didn't sound as demanding as it often did. "Believe me when I say if I wanted you sent to St. Mungo's, Fudge would have let me do so already." Lucius felt another pang of sympathy for her when she believed him at once in regards to how crooked Fudge was. "You know I had to cover for you and Potter when you attempted to pull the hippogriff into the forest. Narcissa and I have already told your therapist, but she needs to hear it from you too - especially with how you had used your core." _Not to mention I need to prove myself right to Andromeda._

Her lips parted slightly as his works sunk in. _Is Dr. Augsen as corrupt as the rest of the Ministry?_ Hermione only responded by holding out her pinky to him in the same way she had to Draco. "Swear it?" She admitted this was more to humiliate him rather than to reassure herself that he was telling the truth. Lucius eyebrows twitched in confusion as he tried to figure out what Hermione wanted him to do. He decided to try mimicking her and she quickly grabbed a hold of his extended pinky finger with hers before letting go. "Deal."

* * *

Hermione didn't know if her agitation stemmed from her lack of sleep or from the bottle of altered _Veritaserum_ Lucius had Crewe deliver with her breakfast the next morning. Perhaps it was both which was why she had her arm cocked back, ready to chuck it at the wall to shatter the vial. No matter how much she wanted to though, she wouldn't let her hand fly forward to destroy the glass. After they made their deal, they sat in silence to finish off the tea before going back to their bedrooms. Not once did he mention he wanted her to take a potion. Hermione then sat forward, elbows on her knees as she rolled the vial between her palms.

_What if it makes you feel like calming draught does? There really is only way to find out._

_I still have stomach problems from calming draught - why would I risk taking this?_

_Because you like it. You like not being able to feel anything bad._

_No._

_Think about it, you hate seeing your therapist. This could make it much more bareble if it even has a quarter of a similar affect-_

Hermione argued with herself for a minute before looking at the parchment that was pinned beneath it for a second time.

_This is a modified version of Veritaserum. Unlike regular Veritaserum which forces the drinker to tell the truth once a question is asked, if you decide to speak when asked a question you'll have the chance to deny answer, but you will not be able to lie. _Nothing about how it would make her feel.

Hermione understood why Lucius felt it was necessary, but she was done with potions! She then came to the conclusion that if she had to drink another, it would be too soon. _But I'm right about Narcissa and he knows the truth! He practically confirmed it last night! _Hermione made a face before roughly tossing the potion into the drawer she kept the Gaia stone in. She allowed herself to be distracted with how resourceful the Malfoys made themselves; Untraceable wands, variations of powerful potions, and Gaia stones - something that was even more rare than a two-way mirror. Hermione hugged herself as insecurity set in. She admitted to herself she wanted to be a part of them - to _feel_ like she was a part of them. If she was able to just prove to them that she'd be okay with whatever Narcissa _might_ be maybe she would feel apart of the family.

_You haven't forgotten about them have you? William and Jean Granger?_ Hermione felt both anger and guilt fill her at the foreign voice. _Of course I haven't, but it's not a sin to call the Malfoys my family if I can call Harry and Ron family, is it?_ Hermione waited for another intruding thought to answer her before it hit her that she was having another internal conversation _alone._

Hermione jumped to her feet, frightened at the realization. "My name is Hermione Jean Granger. I'm thirteen years old and my birthday is September 19th. I am a Virgo, something Lavender likes to remind me. I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I was sorted into Gryffindor..." Hermione continued this train of thought until she felt grounded enough to think about what she needed done. She pulled the plate holding the breakfast omelette close to her mouth and took a bite off of her fork as she mentally slapped into a positive headspace. There was so many thing she aspired to be and she was not going to let anything stop her.

She was _Hermione Jean Granger_ and Hermione Jean Granger did not cower when things got tough. She took the bull by the horns and owned it because not only was that the person her parents wanted her to be, but it was the person she _believed_ in being. _It's time I got my life back on track. _Hermione's eyes drifted once more to the drawer that held the potion, this time though, she felt like she was standing up to her demon instead of trying to run away from it.

_I don't need a potion to tell the truth, and Lucius is just going to have to accept that._

* * *

"So I'm going to repeat this to ensure I understand what you just said properly." Narcissa rubbed her temples in an attempt to fight off the headache the conversation was causing. "Hermione suspected Draco and I not being completely human and you did _not_ lie to her because you think _she should know_?"

Narcissa, and Draco all stared at Lucius like he just sprouted a Puffskeins mane. He silently stirred his 'Irish Coffee' - something he thought that would help him get through the day much better than his regular cup of tea. "Only because she would find out eventually. She's like a-" Lucius rotated his free hand before snapping his fingers repeatedly while he searched for the wording he wanted to use. It was a gesture he only did when a certain amount of caffeine was starting to hit his veins which was exactly why he added the cream liqueur to mellow out the effects. "Horklump after an earthworm. You give her a few days and she'd do more than find every worm in the garden. She won't stop until she has a satisfactory answer."

"And you couldn't give her a satisfactory lie because...?" Narcissa let out a sarcastic chuckle. "My dear husband, you can be upset that I tricked you into a contract of never being able to reveal what Draco and I are, but _this_ is exactly why."

Draco looked between his mother and father, hoping it wasn't too bold of him to speak in what looked like a conversation with the potential to explode into an argument. "Forgive me for interrupting, but if she tries to look into the truth on her own, it is likely Hermione consult Potter and Weasley about it. If we were to tell her before hand we could prevent any other attention being brought to us."

Lucius' chest swelled with pride that Draco decided to side with him and bring up valid points. "You could easily have her be sworn to secrecy like I am. Not to mention the trust it would build - Having her hear it from us would only benefit our relationship, Narcissa.."

Narcissa narrowed her eyes at Lucius. She hated having her own words used against her, but she knew that Lucius wasn't just trying to flip the narrative on her. She hated to admit it, but despite how she felt about her family's secret, it might have been in her best interest to tell Hermione about it. She pursed her lips, considering what it would mean to invite someone else into a truth she would rather die for than let it be common knowledge. _I'd have to tell her nearly everything. _"I don't know if Andr-"

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"We'll talk about this later." Narcissa whispered to her husband and son before twisting in her seat behind her. The interruption displeased her even further, but she was grateful for it as she had been so deep in thought, she nearly said her sister's name out loud in front of Draco. "Come in!"

Hermione walked in, closely followed by Dr. Augsen herself. Hermione glanced at Lucius before looking at Draco who had stood up to exit the drawing room. "Draco, I'm sure it'll be fine if you stayed." Lucius eyed Hermione with an amused look as he sipped his coffee. The message was clear that he expected her to belt out her truths in front of everyone in the small drawing room and she wondered if Lucius would ever actively give her the chance to move past _tolerating_ him. "He's listened in on the last group session, why not let him be present for this one?"

Narcissa place her head into her palm in a look similar to defeat when Hermione crossed her arms to zero in on Draco. "You didn't!" Draco being caught off guard by his father outing him, simply turned his laced fingers palm up, not sure what to say. "You did? Draco!"

Andromeda stood silently seething - her lips pressed together so hard they had turned white underneath the wine red lip she wore. "Never mind that Hermione, Draco, you can leave."

"I really don't like how you boss my son around, _Doctor_." Narcissa peaked through the fingers that were covering her face in an attempt to silence Lucius with a look. While the manor was full of secrets, he never liked the idea of there being secrets _between_ his family members. He found it only caused bigger problems and with such a small number of them- even now that he counted Hermione as such- he thought there should be no room for a rift to be created between each other. Using his calm, but commanding tone he often saved for business deals or talking to his subordinates, he continued. "While Hermione has been adopted under unfortunate circumstances and refused to take our family name-" Lucius pretended not to see Hermione open her mouth to point out he refused to _give_ her their name- "We will still treat her like a Malfoy, and Malfoys do everything together." Lucius looked at Hermione, ignoring the astonished look everyone gave him. "Now would Draco being present today be a bother to you, Hermione?"

Hermione wondered how he had this habit of making her eat her words without knowing what she was thinking. _My god. I feel as if I just watched the Grinch's heart grow three bloody sizes._ The heaviness of his words were not lost to her and she hoped that she was genuinely being accepted by him, instead of him trying to emotionally manipulate her into feelings as if Draco staying was an obligation. Hermione looked at Draco and had to bite down a smile. _Well he already knows anyway._ "That sounds good to me." Narcissa and Dr. Augsen sent each other a look, but were quick to cover how astonished they felt at what had just happened. Narcissa was grateful there were no portraits in their small drawing room - specifically the ones with her late father-in-law to hear what Lucius had just said. She remembered the words Abraxas Malfoy had said when she first stepped foot into the manor. It was on his death bed and yet he still refused to allow Narcissa to save his life - something that would have been possible with her fae magic. It wasn't very hard to imagine what he would say to his son who had just admitted to accepting a muggleborn into the family.

The session started out normal enough. Tea was served, Dr. Augsen asked her regular questions and Hermione hid her annoyance of the repetitiveness of it when she gave her answer. Hermione almost didn't think that Dr. Augsen was going to ask anything about Snape until she finally did.

"It's always good to hear you're doing well, Hermione." Dr. Augsen and Narcissa shared a glance before they both shifted their posture in their seats.

Draco found the shared act to be interesting and wondered if his mother knew Hermione's therapist before she became so involved in their lives. There was something off-putting about the blonde woman - he had always thought so when he first heard her name. He recognized the star _Aquila_ being her first name, but never in all the genealogy books he had been taught from as part of his upbringing had he ever heard of the _Augsen_ family. He decided it must have been muggle, but it still did nothing to ease his suspicions as he had no way to look into muggle names due to blood traitors being erased from most pureblood records when they broke tradition.

"But I think it's time we readdressed the last outburst you had at Hogwarts. The one Lupin had notified us about." Dr. Augsen's self writing quill stilled for a moment as the adults waited with baited breath.

Draco watched Hermione carefully. Draco already knew about Sirius Black's escape from Hogwarts, and he thought that even Ronald could feel the tension in the air surrounding Hermione. "Perhaps... Perhaps it would be best if I spoke with Narcissa and Lucius alone first about that." Hermione could feel all eyes on her and she did her best to keep an innocent air about her.

Narcissa and Dr. Augsen shared a look at Hermione's request, but Lucius was the one who made a decision for them all. "Severus has already told Narcissa and I his side of the story. In turn we informed your therapist as is our duty being we are your guardians." Lucius said this all without bating an eyelash as he took another drink from his cup. Draco recognized his father's rare attitude immediately as him wanting to get the entire session over with. It wasn't often Lucius acted this way, but when he felt time was being wasted, he did everything he could to speed up the process. Narcissa would often say this was Lucius' way of throwing a tantrum and Draco always had to suppress a giggle when she did.

"You- you already knew, Dr. Augsen?" None of this made sense to Hermione. Felons were bad guys and someone working _directly _for the government was as good as any copper to Hermione. _If Professor Snape made a claim then she should have _been _investigating_\- Hermione nearly slapped her forehead at the memory of an embarrassed Fudge rushing out of the infirmary she and Harry had been in. _Fudge didn't _care. _How can such a idiotic man land himself in such a prime position of power? Why was he not being pushed to be over thrown sooner?! Are wizards so inattentive that-_

"I did." Dr. Augsen gave Lucius a dark look and Hermione started to grow suspicious. She didn't want to presume anyone's job - Certainly not the one who had been in charge of her mental health - but she found it odd for her therapist to be so comfortable with her guardians. "But we always want to hear your side on something."

Hermione pursed her lips and nodded, but there was still one variable that Snape may or may not have been aware of: Peter Pettigrew. It was unfortunate her potions professor never saw Pettigrew in the room and even more unfortunate that he refused to listen to anyone else who had been conscious the _entire_ time they were in the shreiking shack, so now Hermione had to face the choice of doing what was right, and doing what was safe.

When she was ready, she looked at Lucius, still slightly insulted that he felt the need to send her _Veritaserum, _before she looked at her therapist. Dr. Augsen now had her neutral mask on and Hermione pushed all her theories to the side as she began talking. "Well, that's good to hear. I'm sure Professor Snape did not have the full picture in mind when he told you." She sighed and Draco lightly bumped the side of her arm. When she looked at him he gave her a closed lipped, but reassuring smile as a way to encourage her to continue. Instantly, her nervousness shifted from being rooted in being in an uncomfortable position to tell the truth to being caused from Draco's warm expression. _Why is he so bloody handsome?_ Hermione looked down at her lip to avoid feeling even more embarrassed as if one one of the adults would be able to read her thoughts. "Do you remember when the Weasley's had won the Ministry's raffle last year?"

When Hermione had finally finished her tale, Lucius was trying but failing to keep a triumphant look off of his face, Narcissa looked like she was the one dissociating for once and Dr. Augsen looked confused.

"You really attacked Snape?" Narcissa finally asked.

"I didn't really have a choice." Hermione grimaced at her words, but they _were_ the truth.

"You could have really hurt yourself using your magic without a wand like that." Dr. Augsen said almost absentmindedly as she stared at her magicked quill scribbling across the parchment.

Hermione's leg started to bounce. _Why are they so unconcerned about Pettigrew?_ Apparently, Draco had a similar train of thought. "Are you unconcerned that Hermione was in the presence of Sirius Black, mother?"

_"You won't tell anyone right?"_ Hermione was briefly brought back to when she confessed to Draco what had happened.

_Draco made eye contact with her to further cement his answer. "No. If I said anything, even to my parents, it would put Black in more danger."_

_Hermione nodded, but how he answered caused another question. "So you believe me when I say he's innocent?"_

_"Oh, yes. He was never a Death Eater although Peter Pettigrew was."_

Hermione resisted the urge to hug Draco for his quick work of manipulating the conversation by feigning ignorance with his question. _Perhaps I should let him help me with Nott._

Draco thought he would have at least earned a frown from the forwardness of his question, but Narcissa's eyes only flickered to Dr. Augsen then back to the writing quill. It was a motion Hermione had almost missed, but when she caught it, she looked over to Lucius' arm. Knowing what was there, she could faintly see gray splotches where the black of the Dark Mark was most dense. "Sirius was never a Death Eater. She had no reason to think I was in danger when she heard what Professor Snape said." The room stilled again as everyone processed what Hermione's words was implying. _They would have known if he was a Death Eater with them_. _Even then, Dr. Augsen should be more concerned... Surely the word of an old friend couldn't stop the fears of _the _infamous murderer Sirius... Unless, they're closer than what they like to admit...? _Hermione blinked several times as if to be embarrassed by the words she spoke softly, almost to herself. "Sirius didn't have a mark." Hermione made sure not to look at Lucius, almost making it a point to look at the other side of the room. "Pettigrew did."

Draco nodded as if he was being reminded of the small fact.

"Will the Ministry be looking for him, then?" Hermione "Pettigrew, I mean? He faked his own death and he is an unregistered animagus. Neither of those things are legal not to mention that he never had his trial for being- for being in league with Voldemort." She hoped no one caught that she almost used the word Death Eater. She was afraid the negative connotation might have offended Narcissa and Lucius.

Dr. Augsen took a deep breath through her thin nose and Hermione tilted her head in anticipation of the answer. Hermione tried very hard to maintain her trust in her therapist and actively watched her move every session. It may have taken her longer than it would anyone else, but when Dr. Augsen decided to show a sliver of what she was feeling on the inside, it was usually not going to be accompanied with something Hermione wanted to hear. "It would be hard to bring this up to the Wizgamont, especially if they still believe Black is the true criminal here. It had been fourteen years since Pettigrew's disappearance was investigated and there were so many witnesses who said they saw Black kill Pettigrew and twelve other people."

"So you're not going to even try?!" Hermione didn't mean to yell, but she couldn't help her passion to see those who were wrong be punished. _He shouldn't have gotten away with it- She has to do something!_

When Hermione answered Andromeda's question on how she was feeling, he knew she did not take the potion. He was slightly disappointed to know she had not taken it, until she told nearly the same exact story that Snape had. With her current distress came another wave a sympathy when he realized she probably only told them so the right thing would be done. "No. Pettigrew will not be searched for as we will all either be sent to Azkaban for even whispering that Black had been helped by someone in this family or we will be sent to St. Mungos for thinking a dead, allegedly unregistered animagus was still alive." Hermione opened her mouth to object, to tell Lucius that he was wrong and they should still try to prove Black's innocence. She knew Harry was loosing his mind over the literal rat, being that he was convinced Pettigrew was the "Servant of the Dark Lord" after Professor Trelawney apparently had a vision during his exam - but Lucius kept talking. "Pettigrew is probably half way to Egypt by now, anyways. He had always been a coward and you helped entertain the Ministry's best at the Gala. If the gala was anything to go off of, the Ministry is ran by spineless duffers." He nodded at Dr. Augsen. "No offense, Aquila." Hermione sat down in shock and defeat. She didn't know what to do; she wanted to push the issue further, find a solution in how Pettigrew could be apprehended, but she knew Lucius was right. While it was the truth she wanted - it didn't make her feel any better to hear it, especially without the power to do anything.

The smile Dr. Augsen gave to her brother-in-law was filled with so much hate, it was nearly poison. "Lucius, you've been very disruptive and if you continue to interrupt our progress, I am going to ask you to leave!"

Draco having very limited interactions with the healer decided then he did not like her. _Tell my father to leave? In his own home? Barmy Little-_

"I like having Lucius present, Doctor. I think his contributions to my sessions are valuable. They provide a very different angle from what you and I typically come up with." Draco thought he saw it all with Hermione, but then she kept pulling stunts like _this_ that would keep him and his parents in awe. No one said a thing as she checked her watch then stood up again. "It's nearly the end of our session. Perhaps I can walk you to the apparation gate?"

Draco looked at his mother then his father. Narcissa was completely unsure of what to say or do and Lucius had to turn in his chair to hide his smile, leaving the others with the view of the slight shake of his shoulders from his silent laughter. Draco then looked back up at Hermione, who hadn't moved a muscle as her eyes bore down into her therapist. With her shoulders back and the polite smile frozen on her face, he couldn't help but think that that was the most Malfoy dismissal he had ever seen.

* * *

His mother was right about them gathering the needed information in less than a week. Draco never doubted that fact, but that didn't stop him from hating it.

Hermione and Draco gathered enough information for the essay Narcissa required by mid-day Monday. Even with Hermione feeling down about Pettigrew, she proved to be the most competent person he ever had to work with, and wished they were paired more often in the classes they shared at Hogwarts. This was something else he already suspected, but it was something else to experience it.

_Oh, and the way she performed magic_. That was a treat to witness in and of itself. Draco found Hermione was expressive as any other Gryffindor he had met, although it wasn't in the traditional loud and obnoxious way. For instance, when she was trying a spell for the first time, her right eyebrow - the one with the cut in it - lifted up while the other sunk deeper into her face. When she finally got the basic wand to work for her, she immediately broke out into a grin, downright pleased she was able to get the spell done right. Even when she was performing a spell she already knew before, her eyes stayed bright while one corner of her mouth stayed quirked to show off her high cheek bone. Draco actually hadn't noticed he was staring until she snapped her fingers in his face.

"Anyone home, Malfoy?"

He pulled back, scrunching up his nose at having her fingers so close to his face. "Malfoy? Excuse me, but as your friend I have a _name_."

Hermione gave him a teasing look. "Oh yeah, what was it that Ron and Harry would call you?" She put her wand hand on her hip as she used the other to stroke her chin in thought.

"What?" Draco's tone deadpanned as he mentally ran through everything that the two classmates he hated the most could come up with.

"Oh, nothing _lady like _so it's not like _I_ can repeat it."

"Who ever said you were a proper lady before?" Draco crossed his arms as he let a smirk he often reserved for his time at Hogwarts appear on his face. "Why start now?"

Her jaw dropped and she pointed her wand at him, a daring twinkle in her eye. "Careful _Draco._ Lucius' only instruction was not to lay a _hand_ on you. He said nothing about hexing you."

Draco laughed as he put his hands up in surrender. "I defect, I don't want to make you cry after I prove I'm the more competent dueler." Hermione rolled his eyes at him and he couldn't help, but think about how much he enjoyed seeing her like this: completely casual and at ease. It made his heart flutter to know she had her moments when she was doing okay. "What did you need my attention for?"

Hermione stared at him for a moment before bouncing back to pick up the parchment she was working on. She had momentarily forgotten what she needed him for in their light banter - partially because she found herself becoming more and more attracted to him. He didn't miss the blush gracing her cheeks and he found himself wanting to press a hand to her face to see if she was as warm as he got when he blushed. _Did she always blush this easily around me?_ "Oh yes! I wanted to compare our findings."

Draco yawned. "Do you think we could get away with turning in one essay? I'll pay you to just add my name on to whatever you write." Hermione gave him a look, unsure if he was joking or not. "What? We're only on our fourth day and we've found everything we needed, I trust you to write something mum would like." He gave her a mischievous grin that she responded by shoving her parchment towards him.

"It wouldn't cost you a Knut to be serious from time to time, you know."

"Actually it would cost my life-of-the party reputation, but I digress." Draco pretended to compare the two parchments before looking over them to see Hermione sitting there with her arms crossed over her chest, but she dropped the subject. He grinned as he looked down at their notes, taking in his satisfying calligraphy next to her flawless script.

_Female. Female._

_Aged 66. Aged 66? Draco smirked at Hermione's question._

_Shed her skin in Little Hangleton - still alive. Last seen in Little Hangleton._

_Reticulated Python, née_ _Dumeril's Ground Boa._ Draco pursed his lips at Hermione's answer: _Dumeril's Ground Boa. _He should be smiling that he knew one or two things that Hermione didn't, but he knew it would only frustrate her with how preoccupied her mind was.

_Maledictus and Horcrux. No curses to be listed._ "Seems I've bested you again." Draco failed to bite back his smile before handing her notes back, not bothering to continue. They had done a substantial amount of the research together to try and narrow down what scaled beasts might have left the shedding behind, but when it came to the actual spells they should use and performing them, Hermione suggested they worked individually to make sure they both had time to use and practice the unfamiliar spells. Draco had let Hermione go first so she could take as much time as she needed, knowing that he would be much faster at finding what he needed to having done the task before. "The snake was cursed and it changed breeds."

"What? No- how could it change breeds? That's not..." Hermione stood, wand in one hand with her notes in the other. _Puuuuuuuuuurrrrr_. Crookshanks, who somehow found his way back _in _to the manor had decided to keep them company in the library. His tail swished back and forth while Draco started to scratch the cat behind the ear, watching Hermione cast a spell created to check for mainstream curses. "_Deíxe mou_." No copper letting appeared like it would have if the curse had been simple and she made a motion with her hand to nonverbally ask Draco to explain what he meant.

"Possible? Magic is a powerful thing. "Draco stood and picked up the wand he was using. With most spells taught at Hogwarts, wand motions would have him needing to move his wrist in an up and down motion, if not a wide all-around maneuver. With this spell though, he had to move his arm quickly across his chest. "_Ostguinis_." In a scarlet red, the name of the curses appeared over the snake skin.

Hermione sighed, once again being reminded why she hated to rush her work. While Draco had been performing magic, she had decided to read through the spells in the books again to see if she had missed anything that would have been helpful. It was part of the reason why she did her school work way before the deadlines, she often revisited the subject to verify she turned in the best work she could. "Can you teach me that spell? It detects dark magic, doesn't it?" Hermione frowned at the stack of books she had deemed as 'her pile' that she had just spent the past couple of days studying out of then looked at his pile. Even just looking at the spines and bindings, there was a clear difference in some of the tomes. "I've never heard of a _Horcrux_ or the _Maledictus_ curse." Crookshanks rubbed his head against Hermione's hand, asking for attention. She gave it without really thinking as she wondered what else she could have missed for casting the wrong spell.

Draco smiled at Hermione's reaction. He adored how she thirsted for information and was not afraid to speak her theories out loud to get to the right answer. "I can teach it to you, but there isn't really such a thing as dark magic." Hermione had a skeptical expression and the writing between them disappeared. "I'm serious, there's only dark wizards who do powerful magic, and wizards who are too afraid of powerful magic so they try to lock it away." Draco, seeing that Hermione still did not look convinced, decided to use her own views in his argument. "Remember how you said that the Hogwarts house system was not what defines how a person would turn out? That we're free to be our own person if we try to grow past the list of traits we are quite literally sorted into?"

"Yes, but-"

"It's the same concept - it's all perspective. The first Fundamental Law of Magic is 'the further somebody goes meddling with the underlying laws of magic, the more drastic the consequences will be.' It doesn't mean the force we are able to control becomes evil after a certain level of strength is surpassed." Draco nodded his head towards the snake skin. "However, I think I can confidently say that when people don't understand something, especially when it's foreign, they can become scared and try to shut it out instead of taking the time to understand it." Draco could feel an odd tension build between he and Hermione as he indirectly referred to how he bullied her over her blood status, but it wasn't necessarily the kind that came with insults and heated glares. It was something _else_ and true to his words, Draco did what he could to avoid what he didn't understand. "So wizards push what they don't understand away. They ban books and name a subject '_Defense Against the Dark Arts_' instead of teaching them about _all_ magic and encouraging them the responsibility of what they cast." Draco paused again, but he looked down at a watchful Crookshanks instead of trying to figure out what expression Hermione held on her face now. "At least that's what father and Professor Snape think."

Hermione's heart was racing with Draco's words. He was intelligent, no matter how reserved he tried to be. Studying with him throughout the school year had shown he was competent, but actively working on a project with him, had her appreciating the depth he brought to the table - even if he did try to play it off as a part of his upbringing. "But you also believe in that?"

Draco shrugged one shoulder. "I have yet to be proven wrong and it would make sense why Dumbledore had collected and burned certain books."

Hermione blinked several times. "He what?"

"Aside from here and Hogwarts, you never had access to magical texts, correct?"

"No, I didn't." Hermione frowned as it started to dawn on her how limited to information she might have been. Granted the two libraries held _a lot_ of information, but the fact there was so much more out there... She stared down at her parchment, suddenly feeling inadequate. _That won't do._

"Yet you had not heard of these curses or even the spell I used to find them. I know a _Maledictus _is a blood curse that will run through generations of families until they eventually die out." This time it was Draco's corners of his mouth that turned downwards. "A _Horcux_ curse isn't something I remember learning about, so it's either obscure, irrelevant or dangerous. Either way, I know Dumbledore removed anything relating to blood magic, magic requiring human sacrifice, and so on. I imagine he felt a student would be stupid enough to try it in his hallways."

"He could have just made another restricted section and kept the books locked away." Hermione grumbled, thinking about all the lost information _if_ Dumbledore really had destroyed the texts. She had no intention of trying anything _drastic_ \- since it made sense to stop calling certain types of magic dark - but she felt it was better to learn and be aware of the consequences of dangerous magic rather than act like it doesn't exist. "This isn't _Fahrenheit 451_."

"Am I supposed to know what that is?"

"No." Hermione waved the hand that was petting Crookshanks and the half-neazle immediately objected, by letting out a loud _meaowf._ "So, will you teach me what spells you used and why you used them?"

"As her majesty wishes." Draco straightened up and got into first position for the want motion. Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn't fight off the smile at his joke. Draco thought it was weird how once upon a time he teased her to make her cry, but now he teased her to see her laugh - something that never failed to give him butterflies or break out into his own smile.

He couldn't say he minded it though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in touch with me on Facebook and on Discord!
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	36. The Quidditch World Cup (Part I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you! Yeah you. The one binging this fic. Have you drank water? Have you eaten yet? What about your medicine? Are your shoulders aching? Maybe it's time to do a five minute stretch. The fic will still be here when you finish!
> 
> Since I am going back to writing parallel with the books, I do want to put a friendly reminder here I do take parts (mostly dialogue and descriptions) from the books and weave it into my writing. JK Rowling and Warner Bros Studios own the rights to Harry Potter and Harry Potter world.

"Ready?" Lucius knelt next to Narcissa on their bed, wand at the ready for him to cast the charm that would tell them if Narcissa was bearing another Malfoy successor.

"I have already given birth to one child and I still say I will never be ready." Narcissa's eyes were glued to the ceiling, her hair wildly splayed around her mildly petrified face. "What if I'm not-"

"It gives us an excuse to keep trying." He bent over and kissed her slowly, but deeply - a reflection of how he loved her and treasured her. When he lifted his head, he saw that he had gotten the result he wanted. Narcissa's tense features had relaxed as she sighed from him gently breaking the kiss. "It's hard enough for you already, you need to relax." Lucius' voice was soft when speaking to her. He hated reminding her that it was nearly impossible for most halfings to have children - be it half fairy like Narcissa or half giant like Hagrid - but he knew how sometimes she needed to have the reminder come from him instead of her own mind. "Stress isn't good for you."

Narcissa closed her eyes and nodded. "Do it."

"Don't look." Lucius raised his wand again as Narcissa placed her hands over her face. He set off a couple sparks and a cloud of smoke, something he did for Draco as a toddler, to see if she was peaking. When he was confident she was not, he cast the charm.

Nothing happened. Not pregnant.

Narcissa's hands flew to her stomach and he knew that she had ended up peaking after advising her not to. She picked at her nails in thought, but when Lucius went to ask her if she was OK, she placed a hand over his. "Do you think we should tell Andromeda about the Quidditch Cup?"

Lucius was relieved that Narcissa was doing well with the news - he hoped her logical side would win out as this was their first time testing to see if she was pregnant - but he frowned at her question. _That _was what she wanted to be honest about? "You want to tell your sister who works for the Ministry that we are still participating in Death Eater activities? Didn't you say she vanished your clothes to your underthings when you first approached her after the war so she could search you for the Mark?"

"And tried to search my brain before discovering that even as half-fae she was unable to do so." Narcissa looked at him. "You agree that telling Hermione about Andromeda's identity is a terrible idea, you want to tell Hermione about Draco and I, but you don't want to tell Andromeda something that could ruin my relationship with her if she doesn't hear it from me first? Not to mention you told Draco-"

"Yes, I told Draco about the Quidditch Cup because not only should he _and_ Hermione know to keep out of the way-"

"Lucius, I had a plan-"

"But it was his birthday gift!" Lucius looked away from his wife. He didn't mean to yell or speak over Narcissa, but while he understood the decisions he made and was primarily content with their reasoning, he hated how he felt he rarely ever had to make a choice with a positive or even neutral outcome. It seemed that he had always been left with a choice that was bad or worse and no matter what he chose, something he cared for might be at stake if his choice was not executed to perfection. "I had been waiting for this birthday since I bought him his first toy broom. Do you remember that Christmas, Narcissa?"

He heard Narcissa's weight shift on the bed, but he didn't look at her until she wrapped her arms around his torso when she leaned against him. "I had cast so many doubling charms on the pillows in our drawing room, I was so afraid he would break his neck."

Lucius couldn't help but smile at the memory of a frantic Narcissa chasing after a zooming two year old Draco. "I knew he would grow up to love the sport. I waited until he was old enough so he could fully appreciate going to the World Cup for the first time and now I can't even enjoy it in full with him! All because I have to play Death Eater in the middle of the night." Narcissa placed her hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her. "_That_ is why I told him. I understand why you don't want Hermione to know - it could be too much for her in combination with the gala and Draco grew up knowing what we were, while she did not. Telling her that her therapist is your sister would just dissolve the credibility Andromeda has created," Lucius looked at Narcissa who was resting his chin on his shoulder. "Actually, if we are going to have another child, I will argue that Hermione should know about your lineage." Lucius allowed an eyebrow to arch as he looked his wife in the eyes. "You do become quite dangerous when nesting, I recall one specific time when you nearly severed my head-"

Narcissa pinched the skin of his stomach in a half playful gesture to shut him up, causing him to lightly restrain her wrists. "You read enough books to know not to approach me in my second trimester and the children are not allowed in this part of the manor. She wouldn't need to know."

"And what am I to tell her when you suddenly disappear one day?"

"Perhaps we'll get lucky and it'll be timed right with the holidays so she won't have to know."

"Narcissa..." Lucius' voice was a light plead for her to see his side. "Draco knows-"

"Draco is my son and therefore directly affected, that is a weak argument." He could tell she was starting to get irate, but he took it in stride.

He pecked her lips and gave her a lazy smile. "Hardly. He doesn't have any strong or unique abilities like you do - he has great hair, sure, but the Malfoys have always had great hair."

She gave a slight shake of her head at his joke, but she was smiling. "Draco has an aversion to lying and when someone promises him something, they are more inclined to follow through than not. That is something he can hone and make stronger."

"And you think he won't try to use that on our token Gryffindor?" Lucius laughed when she poked his side to show her disapproval of the phrase he used. "I only joke, _mon amour_. In all seriousness, why are you letting trivial excuses get in the way of including her?" Lucius tucked a stray lock of Narcissa's fine hair behind her ear.

She didn't answer immediately, but when she did, it was almost a whisper. "I don't want to force her into silence more than I already have. Using that gift on the children is cruel and will not allow anything good to grow between us."

Lucius thought she was kidding, but when she didn't say anything else, he decided it was best to drop the subject after placing a delicate kiss on her forehead. "If there are any Gods, they knew what they were doing when they made you half-fae and not me."

Narcissa sniffled and gave a watery chuckle as if she was close to crying, but as always, her face remained dry. "Remember I was your superior under the Dark Lord. My sins make yours look like child's play."

* * *

Hermione woke up the day of the Quidditch Cup feeling as if fresh air had been breathed into her lungs as she had been hit with a stroke of optimism for the first time in a year. The feeling this time though, optimism came with new emotions it never had before, her brain was no longer used to the rush of positivity and it was scared. Her anxiety threaten her, saying that depression would return, and when it did, she would not be able to move out of bed without it's own body weight piling on top of her own. They both whispered in her head, saying there was no point in feeling better and she should crawl into bed so they could properly comfort her when she started to feel less than good again.

Along with her optimism though, came the Gryffindor rigor she reckoned the Sorting Hat had always seen within in her. Rigor brought its friend strength and together they were able to wrestle her doubts and insecurities long enough for her to get up, get dressed, so she could have a better day today if not a good day.

Draco was buzzing with excitement the whole week once he was free of the Maledictus exercise. While he stayed true to his promise of trying to help Hermione find out what concoction she ended up drinking, he would talk to her about the Quidditch players stats on the teams who would be taking part in the Quidditch World Cup. Hermione would hardly mind the interruptions as she knew it was a late celebration of his birthday - not to mention she was hesitant to bring up any negative views on _brooms_ let alone quidditch to _anyone_ after the row she, Ron, and Harry had - and she was a little excited about the match herself. It reminded her of those special trips she, her parents, and Dr. Dixon would take to see a good Rugby game. She was the type if person who often found the build up to the actual event to be more exciting than the game itself.

Another thing she liked that made Draco's rants bareable, was that Draco would take the time to engage her if she didn't understand something. Hermione sometimes felt like Ron talking about the Chudley Canons was a bit too similar to a Professor Bins lecture, as he often would talk _at_ her and not _to _her. Ron also had the same habit as Professor Binns where he would become exasperated with any interruptions and continue his lecture. Even with Draco's eyes bright with boyish excitement, he would slow down and answer her questions if the jargon wasn't something she was familiar with.

It was only at dinner the night before that she asked the question she had been trying to deduce from the way he talked about the two teams playing;

_"So which team are we rooting for?"_

_"Yes, Draco, who are you hoping to win? You've been entertaining us with a monologue on the two teams everyday this week yet I am still unsure who you're partial to." Lucius placed his gillywater down and eyed his son._

_"We could coordinate our outfits!" Hermione beamed as she looked at each of them expectantly. "My- I used to do it when I would go to muggle sport events." She finished her sentence on an awkward note, leaving her to shovel greens into her mouth at the near slip up of talking about her mum and dad so freely._

_"We could certainly do that." Narcissa chimed in. "We would do that for Hogwarts games." Narcissa pursed her lips. "Granted we really just wore our uniforms and robes to the house games."_

_"We wouldn't have to wear anything drastic would we? The Ministry is asking for us to dress like muggles to the game." He gave a deep sigh and Narcissa put a hand over his. He glared at his glass of gillywater and Draco knew his father was wishing it was wine. "And they want us to travel like muggles_ _by using the 'tube.'" Lucius pushed his food around on his plate, a look of disgust and frustration present on his sharp features._

_"We're going on the tube?" There was only a handful of times Hermione remembered taking the underground train with her parents as they owned cars for most of her life, but she found herself thinking she'd be very entertained trying to help guide the Malfoy's through it._

_"Ha! I'd rather-"_

_"Lucius." Narcissa warned._

_He blinked several times at his wife before he remembered he was quite close to possibly offending Hermione. "I don't like closed spaces." He amended. "The idea of traveling in anything resembling one of those... motor vehicles, unnerves me." He took a bite of his greens before turning the attention back to Draco. "So what team will we be coordinating our colors with?"_

Lucius and Narcissa settled on wearing red and black with a gold accessory for the Bulgarian team's logo instead of the usual red, green, and white combination most Bulgarian supporters wore. When Draco said he would be rooting for Bulgaria, Lucius immediately announced he refused to wear anything 'resembling Christmas colors in the middle of summer' and Narcissa thought black would be a much better choice to blend in with the crowd since the Ministry was enforcing wizards to dress like muggles.

Hermione tried several different combinations of the frilly, pleated or business like clothing before settling on a black and red dress that reminded Hermione of the pictures she saw of muggles wearing to diners in the 1950s. The dress technically covered her from her knees to her neck, but it really was a spaghetti strap dress with a collared sheer cape that covered her chest. The red collar matched the red ribbon tied around her waist. It was simple choice that Hermione was happy with and once she tucked her gold cross necklace under the collar, she easily blended in with Narcissa. Hermione decided it was one of her favorite articles of clothing Narcissa had gifted her and she made sure to let the Malfoy matron know as she styled Hermione's hair into a low hanging bun that was carefully stuffed into a black snood that glittered with garnet at every link of the cloth.

"This dress is lovely, Narcissa."

"I'm glad you like it." Hermione watched the blonde woman secure the hair accessory with hair pins through the mirror, her own excitement building about the Quidditch match tonight. Silence fell over them and Hermione wondered if it would be wise to say what was on her mind.

"Do you..." Hermione took a deep breath as she wondered if it was a good idea to bring the matter up to Narcissa.

"Please, don't start sentences then not finish them. Others will think you're a dunce and we both know that's the last thing you are."

_She's right. _Hermione looked down at her hands and pursed her lips. "Something... Interesting has happened, none of my muggle clothes fit and I think someone cast a shrinking charm on them. I know I haven't grown that much in the year, yet nothing fits."

Narcissa paused, her hand poised with another bobby pin. _I could have sworn she wasn't sensitive to sensing magic before she left for Hogwarts_. _Did Draco notice it and tell her? _Alas, Narcissa was thankful Hermione had not yet grown brave enough to question her authority. _Although..._ she smiled as an idea formed in her brain. "I'll look at the clothes before we leave and I'll even pack them so you'll have a selection of clothes to wear at our campsite tomorrow." Narcissa placed the last bobby pin into Hermione's hair before taking a step back to admire her work. "What do you think?"

Hermione turned her head to the side to look at her decorated bun behind her fringe framed face. "I love it." Hermione gently touched the snood jewels adorning her low bun with her fingertips before brushing the back of her fingers against the earrings she was gifted by Narcissa for her birthday last year. The amount of money the Malfoys had didn't impress her like it did to others, in fact, it almost scared her with how casual they were with it.

"Good." Narcissa put her palms together. "Lucius and I got you new shoes for tonight. I didn't see you had a pair like these and I do think you'll like them."

* * *

Draco turned the footwear over in his hands. They were lovely boots - of course, he never got anything less than the best - but it brought out the emotions he had been spending all week ignoring. _This is my birthday gift and I will treat it as such until after the game. Maybe until right before the commotion starts._ Draco tried to look at the positives of tonight before he was forced to focus on the negatives, but he looked sick as he thought about the consequences of failing. _Failure is not an option. My name and blood may save me, but it won't save Hermione. _

Lucius watched his son rotate one of the boots that Narcissa has specially made for Draco and Hermione. He felt like he was watching Draco come to terms with having to grow up and be the man Lucius had raised him to be. Lucius thought he should be proud.

Instead, he was saddened.

There was so much he wanted to say; _I couldn't have stopped Nott, he had already arranged it with the others._ It was true, but then Lucius felt like he would look helpless in front of Draco, something Lucius would _never_ allow himself to be while his son had his eyes on him. _It was either I joined them and made sure we didn't have any more enemies to look out for or we looked like blood traitors. _Lucius came to turns that he did care for Hermione, but he would not let his status fall more than it already had in the wizarding community.

So instead he placed both of his hands onto Draco's shoulders and gave them a squeeze and said the only thing he thought safe to say: "I do wish it wasn't tonight."

Draco stayed silent. Any moment, he felt the old version of his father would grab him by the roots of his hair and tell him that failing would be the least of his worries if anything went awry. He did not know how to act around this much calmer Lucius, and he almost didn't want to. The new act brought up a lot of feelings he had tried burying when it came to Lucius. "What are they enchanted with?" Gifts from parents sometimes came with a purpose. Draco was not a fool to think that this was not one of those times.

Lucius kept one hand on Draco's shoulder as he lifted the other boot to appraise it himself. "From the feel of it, a light-weight charm, a water repelling charm, a traction charm and-" Lucius took his other hand off of Draco's shoulder and pressed the toe box with as much pressure he could muster in his thumb. "Some kind of hardening charm to protect your toes."

"And Hermione was also given a pair?" Draco ran a finger over the almost faint outline of a plume of feathers etched into the heel of the shoe. "What about a tracking charm just in case we are separated?"

"All of your shoes have tracking charms and I imagine that your mother had charmed hers long ago. If not, then the pair we gave her today definitely has been charmed." This time a drop of pride was mixed into Lucius' disconsolate mood hearing his son ask such important questions

"Good." Draco sat on the edge of his bed and put the shoes on. They slipped on easily enough, but tightened on their own once his foot was completely in. After Draco had laced the boots to his liking, he stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom so he could primp and preen everything into perfection.

Lucius watched his son for another moment, thinking about how much Draco had grown. It was something Lucius realized was becoming a tradition every time he thought about how Draco had changed over the summer. While Lucius never knew anything other than the conveniences of traveling by magic, he was secretly thrilled that Narcissa convinced him not to have Draco attend Durmstrang. "We mustn't dwaddle. Crewe is waiting at our tent for us to arrive."

Draco looked at his father in the mirror before turning around, not wanting to seem rude when speaking to him. "Yes, father."

* * *

Hermione thought Draco always looked dashing. It didn't matter if he wore the moss green that so many Gryffindors learned to despise or if he wore white - a color that _should've_ clashed with his hair like Maroon did with the Weasley's hair - she still found his looks to be distracting in the best ways. It almost annoyed her how much she found herself relating to the women in the romance novels she had tucked away on her shelf when he give her a smile only meant for her or even a silly face when she said something he was unawares of.

Seeing Draco in _red_ though, had Hermione wondering if there was anyway to petition him into being resorted into Gryffindor. He and his father were both wearing black suits with a deep red shirt underneath. In place of a tie, the Malfoy men wore gold collar bars that had a chain linking one side to the other. Instead of washing him out like certain rouge shades had done to her, it seemed to pick up on the soft pink pigment in his face that made his sharp features look even more striking. His eyes which often resembled a slate grey seemed brighter like a cloudy gray, adding a sharp contrast to his long and dark lashes. Hermione was convinced by the time she, Draco, Narcissa and Lucius were holding on to the tire portkey that was _conveniently_ placed in the woods just out side of the Malfoy property line, that Godric himself would have been jealous on how well Draco made the color look.

"Does the Ministry always have to use portkeys?" Draco's face was twisted with distaste as he held on to the deflated bike tire with a gloved hand. Narcissa and Lucius insisted they all wore gloves when they used the portkey knowing the Ministry was going to choose something 'so unsightly and filthy', as Lucius had put it, to deter any muggles from wanting to interact with it.

"For once, I will be grateful for what the Ministry has pardoned us with - even though I doubt a muggle has been in Wiltshire in at least a century." Lucius half grumbled as he held the tire at arms length with one hand and withdrew his pocket watch with the other. "They elect a new Minister and they think that's an excuse to forget to treat their biggest contributors with more respect-" The talk of the new Minister took Hermione's attention off of Draco. "Griselda Marchbanks," Lucius scoffed. "Of everyone on the Wizagmont-"

"It could have been Umbridge, dear." Narcissa cocked an eyebrow at her husband, daring him to say Griselda would be worse. Hermione knew she heard the names in passing, but knew nothing about either women.

"It would be a challenge to pull the same stunt in an attempt to get a new Minister twice." Hermione shook her head at Lucius' retort picking up that he was referring to their secret from the night of the gala, but she was smiling.

"I doubt she would be worse than Fudge." Narcissa was about to reply to Hermione's statement, but then Lucius started to count down.

"Five... Four-"

"Remember to keep your feet planted." Narcissa braced herself causing Draco and Hermione to follow suit.

"Two... One!"

Nothing happened for a breath of a moment, then Hermione felt as if she was being pulled forward by a hook in her navel. She wanted to fight the swirling force that immediately picked her feet off the ground, but found she was momentarily paralyzed, unable to even flex the finger that gripped the tire. _I hate this, I hate this, I hate-_

As soon as the ground disappeared beneath her was as soon as it came. Hermione fell on her ankle wrong- the same one she fractured as a child - and took a sharp inhale of breath when she heard the popping sound that followed. "Bloody He-MMMMM!" Hermione hopped twice, the pain flashing through her leg like lightening with each jostle, before regaining her balance. Her fingers were laced together and pressed against the bridge of her nose as she tried to get used to the radiating pain to avoid making a scene.

Hermione felt someone cautiously approach her and when the wind brought the scent of mint to her nose, she knew it was Draco. "What happened?"

She opened her eyes and grabbed onto his outstretched arms that were waiting for her to teeter over. "Landed wrong." Hermione let out a whimper as Narcissa came closer to her, knowing she was going to have to move it so the older witch could heal it. "I heard a pop and it-" Hermione took a shuddering breath as she suppressed tears. "I don't know what's wrong."

"Oh my, first time using a portkey I reckon?" Hermione looked to her side past Draco to see two Ministry Wizards waiting for them at the apparation point. One held a large pocket watch while the other held a ledger and quill. Both wizards started to walk towards them until Narcissa waved her hand.

"It's all right, nothing I can't heal." Narcissa's wand was already out as she crouched down next to Hermione. "Let me see..." Narcissa reached out for the wounded foot and Hermione whimpered as she shakily extended her leg.

"Well, make it quick. There's another family who will be apparating in the next couple of minutes and-"

"Mind who you are rushing, Basil." Lucius' nose flared as he stared down the grumpy looking man until Basil looked away. Lucius crouched next to his wife, allowing him to speak without the Ministry workers overhearing. "How bad is it?" Healing wasn't the issue, Narcissa was more than qualified to fix whatever was broke. What he was concerned about was the fact that Hermione's foot was basically surrounded by a brick of magic that meant the shoe needed to come off to be healed, something that did not look possible by the way Hermione was acting, or Narcissa had to cancel out the magic without alerting the Ministry workers _or_ Hermione. Narcissa spent a _month_ concealing the magical signatures the spells should have been giving off as she and Lucius agreed _all_ of their bases needed to be covered. Even then, they knew it was only temporary coverage as it wasn't natural for heavy magic to have its signature erased.

"Well," Narcissa tenderly placed her palm under Hermione's foot, but the girl still jumped back. Lucius watched his wife's shoulders tense as she came to the same conclusion as he. If there was one thing Narcissa hated, it was her efforts going to waste. Not only did she have to restart her work on the boots _twice_ when she first started layering the magic at the manor, it was now for naught since Hermione would only have one magicked boot. "I won't touch it again." When Narcissa placed her palm under Hermione's foot a second time, he watched her wrist flex and retract as her fingers discreetly worked her fae magic to cancel out her own protective spell work. Then with her wand, she verbally cast the needed healing charm and Hermione sighed with instant relief. "Move it around, tell me if it feels sore."

Hermione gingerly flexed her foot then stood on it before letting go of Draco. They all watched her as she put her feet in first position and performed a quick front tendu to test her ankle's flexibility. "It's like new. I don't think I'll ever get used to how efficient magic can be." Narcissa nodded once, recognizing the gratitude.

"Mr. Malfoy, while I do recognize you are one to stop and smell the roses, we have a big party coming in the next thirty seconds where a broken ankle may be the least of your worries for your family." Basil was now tapping his foot as he stared at his large pocket watch. "Your campsite in the second field to the right, ask for a Mr. Roberts."

Lucius' gave the man an angry look, but whatever he was going to say next was stopped by Narcissa placing a hand on his arm. "We're done here, Lucius." Lucius placed a hand on the small of her back, immediately ushering them out of the designated apparation point. Not a second later, nine wizards appeared in the same spot they had just been in.

They set off across the deserted moor. After about twenty minutes, they greeted who they assumed to be Mr. Roberts. Lucius was civil to the non-magical man, but Hermione found herself biting her tongue when Lucius would only communicate with grunts and dirty looks. From where they now were, they would see campfires along with the silhouettes of people walking to and fro. It was clear that the fans of tonight's game meant business as most seemed to decorate their tents with their teams colors. When they had walked a few meters and the wind blew in their direction, Hermione was able to make the sound of bagpipes in the distance. "This is brilliant!"

"It's everything I imagined it to be." Hermione looked at Draco, taking in the candid moment of him looking in silent awe at the tents. _This_ was how she imagined Draco to be under the mountain of teachings and beatings Lucius had given him, and she felt her heart explode into fireworks at finally being able to see such an guarded reaction. _No occulemency, no scowl, just Draco._

Hermione decided to be forward by looping her right arm around his, hoping she wasn't crossing a line seeing as they were in public and it was more than likely they would run into classmates. "Happy belated birthday, Draco." Draco stood even more straight as he walked, happily propping her arm up with his. They walked through the tents for a while, looking at everything they could while Narcissa and Lucius led them to their tent.

Hermione had just set her eyes on two young girls riding toy brooms that were being chased by their father, yelling about how he would be in trouble with the Ministry if they were seen when Draco abruptly dropped her arm. By the time she turned to face him, she heard someone in the distance calling her name.

"Hermione!" She looked around, immediately recognizing the voice. "Hermione, over here!"

Hermione stopped in her tracks allowing the Malfoys to get out of her line of sight where she could now see Harry, Ron, and most of the Weasley family.

"HARRY!" Hermione ran at full speed, briefly forgetting her manners, to hug him. He surprised her by picking her up and spinning her around causing her to let out a sound that was between a shriek and a scream. "Put me down this instant!"

While he laughed at her small freak out, she turned to Ron and gave him a hug in greeting. "Hey." When he wrapped his arms around her back she got the same feeling again that it was completely different from the hugs she used to get from him and the hugs that Harry often gave her. It made her stomach lurch in an unsettling way causing her to step back and out of his grasp.

"You two need to stop growing." Hermione reached up and rubbed both of their already messy heads just as the Malfoys joined them.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy," A man with the signature Weasley red hair pulled into a ponytail appeared by Harry. He didn't extend a hand, but Hermione didn't find his greeting to be insincere. Hermione looked around at the Weasley tent. There was Harry, Ron, Ginny, the Twins, Arthur, Percy - _The bastard_, she thought to herself - and another man who she had to assume was a Weasley by the look of his hair and good natured face.

Narcissa's gaze narrowed before a coy smile pulled the corners of her mouth up. "William, if I remember correctly?"

"Please, I insist you call me 'Bill.'" Hermione looked between the two unfamiliar Weasley men in surprise. Ron had mentioned that Bill and Charlie would be coming, but he didn't mention how _punk rock_ Bill looked. Knowing how Molly was, Hermione could see why Ron half dreaded Bill coming back to the burrow as she could never see Molly tolerating the long hair and dangly fang earrings in her first born's ear. "How is the orphanage? It's been so long since we last saw you in our branch."

"Please, we're not at Gringott's, no need for you to spoil us with niceties." Hermione felt the tension shift like a rough wave in the ocean with Lucius' words. The wave seemed to go around the four of them and to crash against the rocky shore deemed as the rest of the Weasleys. The red headed family reacted immediately; All but Ginny and Percy crowded around Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

Despite the offensive words though, Bill laughed. "Even so I still represent the bank and I genuinely care about the welfare of the children. The Malfoys are the first to ever come to Gringott's with this kind of non-profit that it really made the Goblins think about how this would work."

The arch in Lucius' eyebrow twitched before a slow smile spread on his face. "If the goblins were so stunted, perhaps they should do what we did and look into how muggles work." _No one_ expected _Lucius Malfoy_ to admit that he willingly tried to learn from non-magical persons, and it showed as Hermione watched everyone in her best friend's family exchange glances - Everyone except Bill who seemed to treat the banter as if it was a part of some game. Something Lucius did not appreciate. "While I am sure talking about other wizard's business and money may interest you, I'd suggest you not make it a favorable past time. Not only is it rude, but you may find yourself in trouble with the wrong person." One corner of Lucius' lips quirked up as he looked Bill up and down. "Come, Hermione. We must be getting to our tent." Hermione wanted to protest, but the look she got from Lucius was so severe her mouth shut as soon as it opened.

"But the girl has just got here!" Arthur Weasley burst out. "Is she not allowed to have friends outside of your home? We've asked you and your wife several times to allow her to stay at the Burrow, but you refuse every time. Why not let her stay with us until the game starts? We'll walk her over to your tent when she's had her fun."

Lucius sneered then. "Is your son lying to you again, Arthur? Choosing not to disclose why she has not gone to the burrow?" Hermione put her hands on her hips, ready to defend herself as she was sure Lucius was going to twist her words around when she revealed that Ron had sent his first invitation to the Burrow. "She doesn't feel comfortable going to your little, ah, _humble abode._ Hermione has expressed this herself."

Arthur's face maintained its Bulgarian red shade, but he looked at Ron, then Hermione. "We've never given her a reason to-"

"_You_ have not, but Percy has." Gone was Narcissa's smile and in it's place were words sharp enough to cut diamonds. Hermione was unsure how Narcissa found out about the conversation she and Percy had with the other Ministry Officials, but she had. Not to mention Narcissa was right. Hermione explicitly explained to Ron she would not go anywhere near the Burrow so long as Percy was there - mostly because she was afraid of what she might have done to him if he tried to explain 'his side' again. "If you think I would even entertain the idea of forcing her to go somewhere she did not feel wanted, well, I can't say I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"Percy had apologized! Right Perce?" Ron looked back at his newly graduated brother who was sitting in front of the campfire.

"I shouldn't of had to, but I did." Percy didn't look up from the campfire he was poking at, even when Ginny punched his arm for his arrogant reply.

Hermione stepped around Ron to look at Percy. "What do you mean you apologized? You think your little two sentence note was an _apology_?"

Percy looked up at her with a tired look on his face, as if he had been dreading the conversation. "Hermione-"

"_'I don't honestly find your kind to be so inferior, no hard feelings. I know_ _you understand what doing what it takes to get ahead is like.'_" Percy tilted his head to the side in question, but Hermione was no where near done. "Yes, I memorized your _apology, _not like it would have taken much. Honestly, what did that even _mean: _'I know you understand what doing what it takes to get ahead is like'? I will study until I am completely knackered, I will look beyond the curriculum to make sure I turn in a paper to reflect my understanding of the subject, but I will _not_ lie about what I believe in to make myself look better to my peers. If you won't stand up for what is right, why are you trying to go into office?"

Percy's face darkened in the yellow flame of the fire. "Mr. Crouch says-"

"Honestly, you were being a bit of a wanker, mate. Just apologize." George said this before looking at Fred and rolling his eyes.

"He's a very respectable man and I plan on learning as much as I can from him." Percy stood up with his chin held high, after shaking off his younger brothers. He walked over to Hermione and bowed. Behind him, she could see Fred and George already mocking him, causing Draco to stifle his laughter. "Hermione, I am very sorry. I hope-"

"For what?" Percy was puzzled at being caught and she could practically see him replay the last minute to try to find what she was asking. "I want you to say out loud what you are apologizing for. I'm not sure you know what you're saying sorry for and if it isn't going to be genuine, I rather you save your breath." Hermione had crossed her arms over her chest, completely unwavering in her stance.

Lucius had to consciously reinforce his occulemency walls when Draco made another strangled sound at trying to stop his own laughter. He was surprised to see the Weasleys looking smug while Hermione chewed Percy out and he came to the conclusion Percy may have had the embarrassment coming for some time now.

"Fine!" Percy brushed a hand against an eyebrow before straightening his posture again. "Hermione, I am sorry for talking about Muggleborns as if they were lesser than."

Percy and Hermione stood like that for a moment, eyes locked waiting for the other to speak before Ron threw an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "There. Now Hermione has no reason to feel threatened." Ron looked over at Draco and narrowed his eyes before looking up at Narcissa and Lucius.

Narcissa put a hand Draco's shoulder before taking a step forward, almost as if to challenge Ron to attack her son. "The decision has always been hers to make." Narcissa's bright eyes landed on Hermione and her mask only softened by a tenth of a fraction, but her voice was much more kind. "Would you like to spend some time with your _friends_ before we are seated for the match?" Narcissa said the word with mild distaste, but kept her focus on Hermione.

Hermione bit the inside of her lip before looking at Draco. He was refusing to meet her gaze at all and she started to fidget until she turned her attention on to Harry. She hoped Draco didn't hold it against her, but even if she didn't want to spend time with the Weasley's, she had missed her other friends. "If that is all right with you, Ma'am."

Narcissa nodded and Lucius returned his hand to the small of her back. "We'll be back to retrieve you before the game." Without another word the three of them walked off to their tent, somewhere in another field. She watched them go, hoping the youngest of them all would at least turn to look at her before he disappeared from sight.

But he didn't.

* * *

"Harry, you should have written to Dumbledore! Not- Not-" Hermione looked around her to make sure none of the other camp goers were paying attention as she, Ron, and Harry carried the bucket of water Mr. Weasley requested for his campsite. "Your _godfather_." Hermione finally whispered. "And maybe you should have told me while waiting for a response. The Malfoy's have a _library_, Harry - Two, actually. I could have looked-"

"I already knew what your advice would be, Hermione. '_Write to Dumbledore and in the meantime, I'll look in _Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions _for an answer_.'" The look Hermione gave him caused him to shake his head at her. "I didn't need a book and what was I to say to Dumbledore? '_Dear Professor Dumbledore, sorry to bother you, but my scar hurt this morning. Yours sincerely, Harry Potter'_? I needed an adult wizard's advice who has dark magic experience and wouldn't make me feel stupid." He threw her a look and when his green eyes met her dark ones, she had no choice but to bite back her anger because she _understood._ Harry wanted a _parent._

They walked in silence for another minute, Ron too concerned about Harry to provide any advice, until Hermione broke the silence. "I wouldn't have looked in _Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions_, for a scar hurting after a vivid dream with Voldemort." Ron caused some of the water to splash in their bucket when he flinched at the name. "I would have looked in _Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks_ first."

The three of them laughed at Hermione's assertion right as they saw Oliver Wood, who did end up being signed by a professional Quidditch team after all. He seemed to have forgotten about his altercation with Hermione on the last game of last year's season and even smiled at her before they continued on. Next, Hermione, Ron, and Harry ran into Seamus Finnigan and his mother who were in a very _green _field. Every tent had been covered in bright, greenery (upon closer inspection, Hermione realized the foliage was actually four leaf clovers) in support of Ireland. Hermione didn't know what the Ministry would find worse though when they finally passed the field full of Bulgarian supporters: The loud Irish music surrounded by green tents, or the white and red tents that all had a moving flag of the Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum.

"He looks really grumpy." The flags blinked and scowled at them as she passed. While his expression wasn't the happiest, she didn't feel the same amount of hate she often got from the Malfoy Ancestors hanging up at the manor. None of them went out of their way to berate her anymore, but they also didn't go out of their way to make her feel welcome - other than Danita, of course.

"'_Really grumpy_?'" Ron raised his eyes to the heavens. Harry and Hermione had to raise the heavy bucket full of tap water to avoid loosing a good portion of it. "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young, too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a _genius_, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

"I suppose." Hermione was intrigued at Ron's description of Viktor Krum, but the ache in her arms didn't let her think about it for too long.

When they got back to the campsite, Fred and George had just started grilling their food. Hermione would have been surprised at there being no magic involved, but Ron explained that with his dad being the Head of the Department of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Arthur took leading by example seriously. Hermione thought Arthur would have made a point to obey the Ministry's guidelines on pretending to be a muggle to heart regardless if he worked in that particular department as he was very fond of Muggle technology anyway. She bit the inside of her cheek, remembering how he had destroyed her parents record player, but she reminded herself she had decided to move past it long ago.

"You've been ages," Percy said just as they set the water down.

"Why don't you go write a useless report on it then?" Ginny snapped. She glanced at Hermione, then Harry before looking back at Percy. "I'm sure it'll be more entertaining than Cauldron Bottoms." Charlie, who was sitting across from them, snickered and ducked his head.

"You're still writing that report about Cauldron Bottoms?" Against her better judgment, Hermione spoke causing Ron to groan and Ginny to roll her eyes.

Percy grinned and Hermione felt instant regret when he puffed out his chest, missing the snooty tone that leaked into her question. The query was mistaken as her forgiving him and wanting to hear his 'intellectual' thoughts on a mundane subject. "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin - leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year-" Percy waved a hand and cut himself off, remembering she was already familiar with his points. "You were there when I spoke to Mr. Crouch about it at the gala."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, right before we went into a _much_ more disconcerting topic of conversation."

Percy's smile dimmed, and he did another motion with his hand as if to physically dismiss her jab. "Well, Cauldron Bottoms were much more interesting than writing about House Elves. When it came to either stance on them, it was going to be a lose - lose topic. Everyone will either be uninterested as wizards are familiar with their nature or it will fall on deaf ears if I were to try to advocate for rights that they don't even want."

"What_?_ What do you mean they don't have rights?" Hermione tried to remember everything she ever read about house elves, but nothing had ever implied they didn't have rights. The texts she had read talked about where they came from, how their magic was a little different, but even then - they are very private creatures and gave very little information to be documented.

"How did you not know that, 'Mione? Dobby came from the Malfoy's, didn't he?" Ron sat down next to Percy and in turn, Harry and Hermione joined him. Charlie started to hand out their food, but Hermione simply held it in her hands as she stared at Percy. "Being filthy rich, I would've thought they'd have more."

"Well, it is hard for a wizard to get a contract with them."Percy being on a roll, didn't give Hermione time to reply. "The Chang family will be set for generations even if Li Jie Chang was to sell his Elf rental business tomorrow."

"Chang?" Harry swallowed the bite of his burger before continuing. "Like Cho Chang?"

"Yes, her father owns the business who supplied the extra house elves to act as servers to the _Loving Hands_ gala." Percy raised an eyebrow but continued. "Does someone have a crush on a miss Qiuyue Chang?"

Suddenly, Harry was _much_ more interested in shoveling food into his mouth which allowed Ginny to speak. "Is that her real name? I always thought Cho had to be short for something." Ginny's dark blue eyes flickered from Percy to Harry several times almost to see if Harry would admit his crush to the them over the campfire.

"We have one house elf - but their rights, Percy. What are you on about? Are you going to tell me that the elves are not being properly paid?"

Percy actually looked uncomfortable with the rush tone Hermione spoke with. She was leaning forward, waiting in anticipation for him to answer her question. "House elves aren't paid. They have never been paid before and I doubt they ever will." She took in a sharp breath, but he spoke to try and pacify her before she went into a rant. "But they like it! It's what they are around for and they are more than content with that, they enjoy it."

"No one enjoys being a slave, Percy!"

He frowned at her raised voice. "They aren't people, Hermione. They're creatures. _Happy_ creatures. Have you ever had a conversation with your house elf?" Percy looked at Ron and gave a knowing smile. "Although, if it's a good elf, then you shouldn't have even known you had one."

Hermione wanted to scream. She felt like they were having a conversation about her blood status again. "Elves are sentient, they have feelings. No one would enjoy being a slave and if you're telling me they are in a contract where they have life long servitude, but they're _happy_-" Hermione stopped, realizing that there may have been no use to talking to someone like Percy. "I have to free him. My god this is absolutely terrible." Hermione took a bite of her food as she stared at the ground, thinking about everything she could do. _He's right, this isn't some prank. Crewe even seemed uncomfortable when I refused to let him call me Master._ She chewed faster as a thought came to mind. _This is brainwashing and I bet Wizards have done it for generations! They _can't _be happy, I refuse to believe that rubbish!_

The boys and Ginny exchanged glances before moving along with a new topic. Hermione seemed to be so deep in thought, they thought it best not to talk to her about elves any further on a night that was supposed to be fun. They continued like this until Arthur Weasley greeted someone so loud, the wizards in the neighboring tents stopped what they were doing to look over their shoulders at him. "Aha! There he is, the man of the moment! Ludo! Children, come meet him!" Everyone immediately joined the two Ministry officials, Hermione being next to Harry at the front of their small crowd. She had heard Bill, Charlie and Percy talk about Ludo (Percy found the man incompetent, and completely _incomparable_ to Crouch), and knew he was the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, but she felt like she heard his name somewhere else. She had been unable to put a finger on the name until she saw his Quidditch robes, _The Wimbourne Wasps! Of course!_ Hermione immediately remembered Draco talking about them once and how Ludo nearly carried the team in some of their worst years on the pitch.

While Arthur introduced them all, Hermione took the time to look over the paunchy man. His yellow blonde hair was cut in a similar fashion Professor Lockhart was and it complemented his rosy complexion that made him look like an overgrown school boy, but it did nothing for his squashed nose. His Robes were covered with horizontal black and white stripes, but had an enormous picture of a wasp splashed across his chest. The Wasp seemed to fly around his robes, but had the habit of pausing on his chest, almost as if that was its preferred area to be in. Hermione thought he was the most eccentric dressed wizard here and that included the male wizard who she saw walking around in a pink nightdress on their way to the tap.

"Hello, yes, hello, nice to meet you all-"

"Percy Weasley, sir." Hermione looked back at Percy who had extended a hand over her shoulder and caught Harry giving Percy the same look she had. While Percy said he did not like Ludo Bagman, he didn't have any qualms about trying to make a good impression with the department head.

Bagman quickly shook Percy's hand. "Nice to meet you finally, Arthur has talked about you starting at the Ministry." Percy had the gall to act sheepish and Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"-And these two are Ron's friends; Hermione Granger and Harry Potter." Hermione didn't miss Bagman doing the smallest of double takes at Harry's name and they all watched as his eyes fell on to Harry's scar. Wizards often had the habit of making Harry feel uncomfortable when they did that, and she couldn't deny it somewhat annoyed her. "Everyone should know of Ludo Bagman by now, he's the reason we have such good tickets!"

Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing. "Please, it was my pleasure." He winked at Harry and Hermione knocked her hand into Harry's so he could catch her smile, a small sign she found Ludo's behavior amusing. "What a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather?" He waved an arm at the salmon sky that was quickly turning into an Indigo. "A cloudless night is coming and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements. Not much for me to do!" His laugh was distinct and boisterous. She imagined if she had to describe Bagman as a sound to anyone, she would simply describe his laugh. "Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" Bagman removed the coin bag hanging off his belt and jingled it in the air. Arthur started to refuse, but Bagman was set on having the Weasley place a bet. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first - I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years - and little Agatha Timms has put up half her shares in her eel farm on a week-long match."

"Oh, tsk, go on then," Bagman happily opened up his coin purse when Arthur conceded and nearly thrusted it into the oldest Weasley's chest. "Let's see... A galleon on Ireland to win?"

"A- A Galleon?" Arthur dropped the single gold coin into the bag, solidifying his stake with a dull _chink_. Hermione couldn't help but think that Bagman either took his job to make things as fun as possible very seriously or he had a bit of a gambling problem. "Very well, very well... Any other takers?" Ludo jingled the purse once more and held it out to the gathering around him.

Arthur gave a small, nervous laughter as he glanced at the twins. "They're a bit young to be gambling, Molly wouldn't like-"

"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," said Fred as he and George made their way in front of Ron. "that Ireland wins - but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand."

"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that-" Percy started to hiss, but stopped when Bagman took it from George's hand to get a closer look at it.

"Did you make this?" He turned it around slowly, careful not to trigger any charms on it to take note of the intricate details.

"Yes, sir." For the first time since meeting the twins, Hermione saw pure pride light up their face. Hermione wondered if anyone else noticed past their goofy exterior, but she knew the twins were very clever with charm work. They never gloated about it, nor did they brag about how well they worked together as beaters - which even Hermione with her untrained Quidditch eye was able to tell they were the best pair out of the four houses. From what Ron had told she and Harry on their way to the tap, Molly nearly burned all of their order forms she had found when trying to find the reason of the constant racket coming from inside their room. Seeing them looking so proud made her wonder why Molly had not been encouraging their dream of starting a joke shop.

Bagman swished the fake wand and it gave a loud squawk before turning into a rubber chicken. Bagman's already excited face exploded with delight and he gave a hearty laugh. "Excellent! I haven't seen one this convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"

Hermione grinned at Percy's stunned look quickly morphed into disapproval. She just didn't know if it was for his brothers or Bagman, but it still delighted her to see it.

"Boys," Mr. Weasley warned under his breath as he turned to his sons. "I don't want you betting. We already talked about this - That's all of your savings... Your mother-"

"Don't be a spoil sport, Arthur!" Boomed Ludo Bagman, rattling the bag excitedly as Fred and George added to it. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance... I'll give you excellent odds on that one... We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we..." Arthur could do nothing but watch helplessly as Bagman whipped out a notebook and quill to write down the twin's names before handing them a slip as proof of their bet. "Has anyone seen Mr. Crouch- Oh! Speak of the devil."

Hermione looked behind her and saw Bartimus Crouch walking towards them with Lucius Malfoy. They did not seem to be speaking much which wasn't too much of a surprise to Hermione as both men seemed to only speak when spoken to. Crouch was wearing a solid black and Hermione respected that he knew how to blend in with muggles when needed. She turned to Harry and Ron, both of which were already wearing a frown at her having to leave so soon. "Do you know what seats you'll be in? Your father said he got good seats from Mr. Bagman-"

"Nothing like what the Malfoys can buy, I'm sure." Ron was already wearing a scowl, the one he often wore when he talked about money. He crossed him arms and looked down at the floor in frustration and Hermione couldn't stop herself from feeling sympathetic towards him. "He always says he has something good when he has a treat, and most times it is, but its nothing _great._"

"I'm sure he tries his best, Ron." Hermione put an arm on his shoulder and he looked down at her. Ron looked as if he wanted to say or do something, but all he did was put a hand over hears before looking up at Lucius who had just arrived.

"Hermione." Lucius' voice was a drawl as it often was, but she noticed that even in public, he no longer held any venom in it.

"Lucius." She half turned towards him as she imitated his tone before giving him a small smile no one else saw.

"Don't provoke me." She simply raised her eyebrows seeing the amused twinkle in his eyes past his dry tone. When she turned her attention back to Ron, he was boring holes into Lucius' blonde head.

"Mr. Crouch!" Percy exclaimed before sinking into a what should have been a well practiced bow, but his execution of it only made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

Mr. Crouch looked at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes, thank you, Weatherby." Hermione couldn't help the snicker that passed her lips as Percy made himself busy with a tea pot, bringing it to a quick boil. "Miss Granger is it? It is nice to see you again."

Hermione didn't think she made too much of an impression before he left the gala for him to remember her name, but she still bowed her head. "Same to you, Mr. Crouch." She thought she heard Percy mumble something, but Lucius once again reminded her that he wasn't going to wait for her to finish any conversations she may have been having.

"We must be going now. I hope your lot didn't give you too much trouble for you staying away so long." Hermione shook her head at his insistence on being spiteful towards the Weasleys, but said nothing. This was the best mood he had ever been where she was involved and she was not going to ruin it - for her _or_ Draco.

Hermione hugged Harry and Ron before shaking Mr. Bagman's and Mr. Crouch's hand. "Goodbye everyone!" Percy seemed to be making it a point to ignore her as he served Mr. Crouch his tea, his ears aflame from his flustered blush. "Goodbye, _Weatherby_!" Fred, George, and Ginny seemed to choke on their drink at that while Bill and Charlie turned away to hide their laughter.

It wasn't until Lucius and Hermione were well out of earshot that either of them said a word. "I don't know if anyone's ever told you this before, Hermione, but you're quite petty when you want to be."

Hermione looked up at him, an incredulous look on her face that only grew when she realized he was _teasing _her. "And who do you think I learned it from?" Lucius looked down at her, but didn't comment. He had to admit that her eloquence made it hard to keep her at arms length, but he was starting to accept he didn't mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like how JKR did Cho Chang dirty. If she was given a *proper Mandarin Chinese Pinyin name it should have been 'Zhang Qiu' (pronounced Chang, Cho.) Cho is of Korean origin and Chang is of Chinese origin. Anyways, I expanded the name to Que Yue which means Autumn Moon. She will still be called 'Cho' for now though :)
> 
> *I don't speak any Chinese dialects unfortunately and did research to confirm this before adding this in.  
\-----  
Edit to add this in as user Canto-Speaker on FFN helped clarify something: Great story and chapter! As a clarify point though, Chang is the English translation for the Cantonese last name Zhang. The spelling of her last name indicates her family is likely from Hong Kong, considering they used to be a British Colony, or at the very least the Guangdong Province of China. It would be more appropriate to have her proper name spelled "Chang" and her first name to be Romanization of a Cantonese name as her family would most likely not count Mandarin as their mother tongue.


	37. The Quidditch World Cup (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Leprechauns - Remember this commercial?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m05ZDYBUG8

By the time they arrived to their two-story, onyx colored tent that was guarded by some of the manor's albino peacocks (Hermione had no clue how the Ministry explained that to the muggle stadium workers), Narcissa and Draco were waiting outside for them. When Draco saw Hermione again, the tensing in his stomach stopped. He mentally chastised himself, telling himself he only had to worry about her _after_ the match. That thought had him feel another round of guilt.

The first round came after he had been mad at her for wanting to hang out with Harry and Ron. He immediately took offense to it, wondering why she would rather hang out with _them_ over _him_ \- the one whose birthday was being celebrated today. Especially when _he_ was the one helping her with the mental breakdowns she had over the summer. Then he remembered he couldn't be that great to around if he knew about the chaos of tonight and was keeping it from her.

Draco met her eyes once she and his father were in front of him. He couldn't help but look over every inch of her face, hoping that she was going to be okay tonight. After a moment of staring when his mother and father spoke, he offered her his arm to escort her to the stadium. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief knowing Draco wasn't still cross with her before she took his arm and they all started walking towards the stadium.

Hermione could see they weren't the only ones walking towards the stadium, but it didn't hit her how many people were in attendance until they had gotten past the last few tents that had the fortune of being closest to the stadium. Hermione wasn't sure if everyone's excitement had become palpable again or if it was the outbreak of magic. If the Ministry was hoping to not have to obliviate a single muggle, they were mistaken.

With less than an hour until the pregame festivities started, the wizards abandoned all pretenses to be discreet. Every few feet, sales men were apparating and disapperating with carts and trays with merchandise she had never seen before. The rosettes were a familiar staple in Quidditch games and was surprised to see Narcissa covering her nose every time they neared them. "So manyflowers put under a stasis charm - how barbaric!" Hermione had the idea to look at Draco at Narcissa's words when one sales man nearly apparated on top of him. Draco's nose was wrinkled in distaste and Hermione opened her mouth to ask why the aversion to flowers when she was interrupted by the salesman.

"Heyo, girlie! Who are you rooting for? Ireland, Bulgaria? Must be Bulgaria, not a drop of green on ya-" His tray, which had pointed green hats bedecked with dancing shamrocks, Ireland flags, a scarf, model players that walked around had then been flipped over to reveal the underside to show Bulgarian merchandise instead.

"Oh, that's magnificent! What are those?" She pointed to what looked like brass binoculars, except they were covered with all sorts of knobs and dials.

"Omnioculars," The wizard became more eager as he lifted one off of his tray to fiddle with some of the settings to show off it's features. "You can replay action, slow everything down - and it will even flash up a play-by-play break down if you need it. It's a bargain at fifteen galleons each." Hermione reached for her own coin purse when she felt Draco grab her wrist.

"That man over there was selling his for eight galleons." Hermione's eyebrows raised and she glanced from Draco to the wizard. "Marking up the price all because we dress a little nicer? I think we'll buy from someone else-"

The salesman side stepped with them at the same time Draco pulled her to circumvent the man, determined not to let a sale go. "Twelve then- that's a bargain for these!"

"And I said eight galleons." Draco only narrowed his eyes further. Hermione didn't know that Draco was a haggler - he didn't _need_ to haggle.

"Fine, fine, fine: Ten galleons."

Draco looked up at his father who was failing to hide his proud smirk. Lucius gave a quick nod and Draco looked back at the salesman. "I'll take two." Draco reached for his own gold, but Hermione was the one to stop him this time as she handed the salesman twenty galleons.

"I never got you a gift." Hermione sheepishly handed Draco an Omniocular. "I didn't know what to get you... You seem to have everything you need and I didn't want to get you something you already had." Hermione looked down, genuinely feeling bad as Lucius bought Omnioculars for he and Narcissa.

Draco took the omnoculars, unsure of what to do or say. The only person who ever got him anything was Pansy and even then, it was always something pathetic that _she_ liked. He decided to take a route of conversation he was more familiar with and tried to dismiss the act of kindness as they continued their trek to the stadium. "You played for me on my birthday."

"That hardly counts." Hermione looked through the lens as she walked, already playing with the settings so she wouldn't have to figure it out when the match started.

"Sure, it does. Acts of kindness still hold value." Lucius cut in. "You know I hear you are quite the cellist. It's a shame I have not heard you play."

Hermione glanced behind her to look at Lucius. For the past twenty minutes, he has almost been outwardly friendly towards her and it put her on guard. _He has to be up to something... But is picking a fight worth ruining the night?_ Hermione grinned mischievously over her shoulder. "The real shame is how it will stay that way." Lucius didn't stop the chuckle that rumbled in his chest. "And _you_," Hermione poked Draco's arm as she said this. "Why haggle? I think you could afford to buy everyone here a pair of omnioculars and still have money left over."

Draco let out a small laugh himself. "Now, how can I keep money if I am constantly paying more than I can?" When Hermione flicked the gold pin in his collar that had the Malfoy crest on it as her only reply to her not accepting his answer, he rolled his eyes. "It's good practice for when I have to start running business deals."

Hermione mouthed 'oh' right as they made it to the entrance of the stadium and Lucius took the lead again after handing the waiting Ministry Witch their tickets. "Prime seats!" She had only bothered to look up at who she was talking to at that moment and Hermione saw a twitch in her smile. "Of course." The witches eyes settled on Hermione then, causing the teen to clear her throat from how uncomfortable she felt. "Top box. Straight upstairs and as high as you can go."

Hermione felt her stomach sink at those words. She immediately thought of Arthur Weasley, rattling off the stats of the stadium the Ministry took months building: _Seats a hundred thousand! Muggle repelling charms on every inch of it... _The stadium was more wide than it was tall, but that did not mean it didn't tower over most buildings she had seen in her life. She was able to control her fear of heights with the first two stories, but soon the fact she could see _how_ high they were through the open risers and the chain-link steps made her head start to spin. "Narcissa," Hermione was gripping the metal banister at this point with both hands, causing the mass of wizards behind them to move around her like water navigating a rocky river. "How high up are our seats?"

All three Malfoys exchanged a concerned glance. Narcissa walked down to where she was and extended her hand for Hermione to talk. "Hermione, we're in everyone's way." Narcissa's voice was soft, but it helped Hermione re-register that she _had_ to move.

She wished that the stairs were like the ones Hogwarts had for their games - closed in towers that led to the wooden benches at the top. _Of all the things to be afraid of, heights had to be one. _Hermione grabbed on to Narcissa's arm, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from her feet and everyone moving under her. _I should be fine, there's people beneath me and above me and they're fine. Why-_

"Perhaps if we stuck her to a chair she'd be motivated to move." Hermione wanted to laugh at the memory of her attempting to army crawl up the stairs when Lucius made his joke, but her face remained ashen and lips stayed turned down.

"Lucius-" A sigh. "Draco grab her other arm." She took one step and the fact she was more than aware that she was moving slow seemed to make her fear worsen. Paired with the grumbles and teeth sucking everyone had made when passing her, she ended up stopping on the stairs again as she gripped the railing for dear life.

"No! I can't-"

"Are you - I've seen you jump entire staircases with no issue and _now_ is when your fear kicks in?" Hermione threw him a look. She wanted to defend herself by saying she only did that under the influence of an adrenaline high, but it was as if her jaw was wired shut. She felt light headed that if she didn't reserve her strength to stand she would faint.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay." Hermione focused on taking deep breaths, too frazzled to focus on any specific technique. She shakily grabbed Draco's waiting hands, finally allowing Narcissa and Draco to guide her up the stairs.

Between Hermione's mental mantra of _I can do this _and Narcissa's soothing words of comfort, Hermione was able to make it up to the top box without having to stop foot traffic again. When her eyes lifted off the ground, the first thing she noticed was Harry, Ron, and the Weasleys who took up the first row of the top box. Arthur, Harry, and Ron were talking to a significant looking man who was accompanied by an equally important looking woman. Due to Harry and Ron being distracted, it was the twins who saw Hermione first, both of them broke out into grins and waved at her before pointing over their shoulders with their thumbs to the mostly empty seats behind them - the only occupant being a house elf who sat in the second seat of the row.

"No way."

"Shit." Hermione tried not to laugh at Lucius. He sighed though his large and pointed nose before accepting that they were to sit behind the family he hated the most. If Lucius hoped to go unnoticed by the rest of the Weasleys he would have no luck as the important looking woman that Arthur was talking to called out to him as Hermione and the Malfoys was taking their seats.

"... Oh! And here is Lucius!"

"Ah, Minister Griselda Marchbanks," Lucius held out his hand over Ron's head to shake her veiny hand. Hermione's eyebrows shot up at the title. She recognized Marchbanks from being a part of the Wizgamont when Hermione had to stay at with the Ministry last year. Griselda Marchbanks was a woman who was both old and young looking, it all depended on where you looked to determine her age. While her slicked back, salt and pepper hair might have been a tell-tale on what age range she fit into, she opted for a glittery zima blue dress under her deep grey robes. Hermione thought it was interesting that she opted for a more modern fashion choice and the fact she stuck to her Ministry's color gave off an air of seriousness that seemed important after having a leader voted out of office.

"Please Lucius, no need to use my title." She waved her hand before letting Lucius, hands go. Hermione thought the dark orange lipstick was a poor choice as it highlighted her large teeth, something Hermione would have done well to avoid, but she was sure it was some new fashion trend _Witch Weekly_ would cover. "Is this your family? I don't believe I've met them yet - Well, most of them." She winked at Hermione and the teen returned it with a tight smile.

"Yes," Lucius turned to Narcissa who was standing behind him. "This is my wife, Narcissa." Narcissa let her hand fall from covering her nose to shake the Minister's hand. "This is Hermione," Hermione gave somewhat of a small plié in the cramped space to the right of Lucius. "Who looks like you've already met before, and then this is my son, Draco." Draco shook the Minister's hand over Harry's head.

"Yes, it is so nice to meet you all." Marchbank's black eyes scanned over all of them before falling back on Hermione. "And I am happy to see you are doing much better, Miss Granger."

"As am I, Ma'am." Hermione found herself crossing her fingers, hoping that she did not have to sit next to Marchbanks. It's not that she didn't like the new Minister, but she did vaguely remember her and another other woman with a pink bow in her hair, arguing that Hermione should be sent straight to St. Mungo's.

Marchbanks gave her a single nod before placing a hand on the man's arm and holding an arm out to Lucius. "Lucius, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Obalonsk. He's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic." Minister Obalonsk nodded at Lucius, his only effort to greet Lucius. "Oh! Look at me being rude - Arthur, you know Mr. Malfoy? He made a _very_ generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries." Griselda had turned back to the Bulgarian Minister and was speaking slowly and loudly as if that would make him understand her better. While she did this, Lucius seemed to whisper something rude to Arthur Weasley, who pressed his lips into a fine line and chose to stay looking forward. Hermione crossed her arms and glared at Lucius, who was so pleased at humiliating Arthur in a position where he could not react, that he paid her no mind at all.

Ludo Bagman emerged into the box, a charismatic grin on his face. "Everyone ready? Oh, you lot will want to be by the edge there - it's going to be much more exciting than sitting at your seats for the pre-game festivities." Harry and the Weasleys immediately got up and stood by the railing. Draco stood, but raised an eyebrow when Hermione didn't. "Minister - Ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, Ludo." The new Minister quickly showed Minister Obalonsk to his seat - which was next to Hermione - before standing by Ludo who had cast _sonorus_ on himself to project his voice over the roar of the packed stadium. Hermione chose to focus on him instead of meeting Draco's eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen... Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch Would Cup!"

"Are you really going to let me stand with with the Weasleys by myself?" She looked up at Draco then who looked torn on if he was going to brave the family by himself or not. Hermione wanted to argue that Lucius might join him while she stayed seated far from the open field, but Narcissa and Lucius had their heads deep in conversation, not paying anyone else any mind.

Hermione twisted her ring around her finger as she stared at the silhouettes of her friends. Ron looked over his shoulder and met her eyes. She watched as he said something to Harry, who glanced back at her to see her still sitting in her seat. "Don't say it like that, Draco."

"How is this anymore different than the Hogwarts games? I've seen you stand at the edge to cheer Potter on." He raised an eyebrow. "Top box seats, Hermione. Right in the middle of the goals posts so we can see every bit of the action and you tell me you want to stay... here?" He dipped his chin and raised an eyebrow at her.

Her leg bounced as her voice raised. "We are elevated five times higher than the seats at Hogwarts. Humans were not made to be this high in the air and I will not risk my life to watch two professional teams try to kill themselves."

Draco threw his head back in a groan. "And I'm the dramatic one? I'm not going up there by myself, so if you are content with me holding you personally responsible for something I have been looking forward to since-"

"'Mione, you're going to miss the Veelas." Harry and Ron were now standing in front of their seats, pointedly ignoring Draco.

Hermione looked between her three friends, a miserable expression on her face as she thought about the fear that radiated through her body on the stairs. "I just. Can't." She felt herself sink into her seat under the pressure of her best friend's gazes. The one time they aren't at each others throats was the one time they were at hers and she found herself preferring the former rather than the latter.

"There are magical reinforcements here. While we're higher up than the Hogwarts games, you can't fall. They're even magical barriers to protect the fans from rogue bludgers." Ron looked over at his brothers. "Fred and George have been talking about it all week."

Hermione's open expression to the idea of possibly being up close to the game immediately turned sour. "They don't plan on interfering with it, do they?"

"Well-" Ron and Harry exchanged an unsure glance and her eyes widened.

"Listen, Granger." All eyes fell on Draco as he ran a hand though his hair in an exaggerated but exasperated manner. "We've already told you, you'll be safe. If you need that much reassurance," When he put his hand down, he had a strictly devilish look that border lined wolfish. "I'll keep my arms around you like Blaise did at the gala since you liked it so much."

The four of them were deathly silent as Ludo's booming voice filled the air around him. "And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

Hermione's face turned an embarrassing shade of pink while Harry and Ron's face went from pleading to horrified. Draco stuck his tongue against his cheek as he gave Ron a shit eating grin. He knew that the remark would anger the red head almost as much as it angered him to watch Blaise dance with Hermione all night. Despite his Italian friend not being interested in the female sex, he thought if he watched someone else dance with Hermione it would be too soon.

"_Wot?_" Was the only thing that Ron could manage as Harry scrunched up his nose before asking a one worded question, "Blaise?"

"It's not like that." Fueled by anger, she stood before making a waving motion at Draco to move out of her way. "Go on then, since you want to make a fool out of me." Draco turned around as he chuckled, walking past his parents and the house elf sitting next to the empty seat in their row. When she got to the banister, her stomach flipped in a nauseating way, but she refused to let it get to her. Instead, she focused on the shining, feminine bulgarian creatures dance. They were beautiful, but Hermione's mind was swimming with the conversations she _knew _Ron and Harry were going to corner her for. Not once had she ever even mentioned Draco throughout their constant flow of letters, let alone their friendship, only for Draco to make it sound like she was chummy with all of Slytherin now.

Hermione was just starting to brood when she saw movement to the left of her, causing her to do a double take when she saw what Harry had started to do. "Harry, what _are_ you doing?" Harry blinked several times just as the music stopped. He looked at her then looked at his leg that was poised as if he was about to hop over the metal guard rail and into the stadium below. _Veela,_ she remembered, _have a compelling affect on the opposite sex. The only humans who would be immune are those who were believed to be in love and those who had been bound in marriage. The effects of Veela are limited to magical and non-magical humans as most magical creatures can resist the depending on close to the Homo Sapiens family the creature is._ Hermione looked past Harry and Ron (who looked to be too put out for whatever reason to have moved) and Arthur who was laughing hysterically at Harry being caught by Hermione. She also noticed Ginny to be glaring at the crowd of Veelas and Hermione's heart skipped a beat when she thought of Draco. She turned to her right to see Draco looked unimpressed as the crowd of Veelas walked back to their side of the stadium. Hermione let out a breath of fresh air she didn't know she was holding. _Do I fancy him so much, that I was going to be _jealous _of Veela?_

"And now," Roared Ludo Bagman's voice. Hermione found that more often than not, you could always tell who the announcer was a fan of by the way he talked about one team over the other and Bagman was no different. His voice grew in excitement as he introduced Ireland's mascots. "Kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Hermione clapped her hands while everyone but the Bulgarian fans made a ruckus. It seemed that the majority was for Ireland even if they were not covered in green and orange like Seamus and his mother had been. The crowd didn't stop for one minute... then two... but by the time they were nearing the third minute, a sparse amount of people were clapping. A confused murmur started between the fans and Arthur approached Bagman who looked to be arguing with another Ministry Wizard. "What do you mean the Leprechauns are refusing to go on to the field?!" The Amplifying Charm on his voice had been suspended for the conversation. "If they want the crowd to be more excited, maybe they should go out there and put on a show!" Bagman's burst of anger seemed to erupt at the same level his enthusiasm did.

_Oh no,_ Hermione approached Arthur who was watching Bagman and the Ministry wizard talk in hushed whispers. "Mr. Weasley, what's going on?"

Arthur glanced between Ludo and the official before taking a step back to talk to Hermione. "Leprechauns are touchy creatures and hearing how excited everyone was for the Veelas they got a bit... Offended." Arthur grimaced and Hermione nodded her understanding.

"I've heard they don't get along." She knew that the creatures weren't predators to each other as they naturally survived in different parts of the world, but both were territorial and would often attack each other when held together in captivity together. "Well what is the Ministry going to do? Does Ireland have any chants they could say? Or music to get everyone pumped?"

Arthur's eyes seemed to brighten at her suggestion. "Oh, yes! I heard that is a thing muggles do at their sport matches."

"Ri-right." Hermione noticed that Bagman and the Wizard were silent as they listened in on her conversation.

The crowd around them started to boo due to the lack of entertainment and Bagman took a step closer to her, his baby blue eyes intense. "Do you know any?"

"Uh, no." Hermione instantly regretted saying anything in the first place as Bagman and Arthur exchanged a glance.

It was an obvious lie and Bagman was the type to call her out on it. "You do. Please for everything that is good, do something to stop _this_-" Bagman waved a hand to the angry crowd. She could see some of the wizards starting to throw their merch towards the field, only for it to fall on to the metal banisters as testament to Ron's promise that she couldn't fall.

"Well, I can't sing or- or-..." Hermione's brain seemed to go into overtime piecing together something that may work even as she tried to refuse any help. There was one song she thought was simple enough to work, but she needed more than just the Weasleys to help her out. "Mr. Bagman, you wouldn't happen to know how many muggleborns or half bloods are in attendance, would you?"

"Of course, I do. There should be about sixty-three thousand half bloods, nearly thirty-one thousand muggleborns and just over six thousand pure bloods."

Hermione was surprised to hear the ratio be so disproportionate, but she imagined the fact that many wizards had travel the globe to see tonight's game had something to do with that. "That may be a good thing. I have an idea..."

Draco glanced back at his parents who were now sitting tensely in his and Hermione's seats to speak with the Bulgarian Minister. He knew they felt what he had and it was the charged buzz of magic from thousands of angry wizards. Right when he took a step towards his parents to ask if they should get out of the stadium before all hell broke loose, Hermione rushed back to his side. "I need everyone's help!" Draco kept his distance as Hermione explained her simple plan to him and the Weasleys while Bagman made another announcement.

"Witches and Wizards, please hang on to your wands as it seems the Leprechauns are feeling a bit shy tonight." He gave a nervous laugh as the Ministry Wizard he was conversing with earlier dropped his head into his hand. "They just need a bit of coaxing, so please join in if you know the song."

_Song?_ Draco looked at Hermione and the Weasleys who were all now standing with one foot on the bottom rail of the banister waiting for Bagman's signal.

Hermione looked at him expectantly. "Are you going to help?" She didn't sound angry and there was an excitement in her eyes along with... nervousness?

_What the bloody hell is she up to now?_ "Absolutely not."

She grinned and shrugged a shoulder as if to say 'suit yourself.' Hermione looked back at Bagman who nodded after the crowd had quieted once more. Hermione took a deep breath as if to summon every nerve to carry out with what Draco pinned to be a completely Gryffindor idea before she stomped on the railing twice followed by her clapping once. _Stomp. Stomp. Clap. _She repeated this once more, this time with Harry and the Weasleys and Draco looked over the crowd that seemed to somehow become even more quite. The change in the air was almost immediate as the tune caught on. When he looked around, he saw the masses of people shift and by the time her foot came down for the fourth sequence of the beat, the same thousands of people who had been booing Ireland's mascots had now joined in. The stadium vibrated but the structure - reinforced with magic no doubt - held strong as Hermione's _Stomp_ turned into a _Boom. Boom. Clap!_

After the beat was repeated several more times, a brave wizard had cast _sonorus_ on herself and stared singing:

"_Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise / Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday / You got mud on your face, you big disgrace / Kicking your can all over the place, singin'-"_

_"_WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU! WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!" Draco's draw dropped when the chorus came, never seeing or hearing wizards become so united before. He looked at Hermione who had dissolved into giggles at the disbelief her plan worked, and almost couldn't bring himself to be jealous that Harry was laughing along with her, sharing the amazing moment. Draco felt it would be silly of him to stomp his feet, but when she looked his way, he made sure he was clapping along with everyone else.

In the middle of the second verse was when the Leprechauns decided to appear. They zoomed over the field like a green and gold comet, doing a single circuit around the stadium. They bounced to the beat of the music, shooting through the goalposts before making a rainbow across the entire stadium.

"WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU! WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!" Some of the chanters were too busy 'oohing' and 'ahhing' at the light display to chime in to the chorus, but the song was still just as loud.

The rainbow faded and the smaller comets of light came back together to form a great, shimmering shamrock that rose into the sky and over the stands. Something like golden rain was falling towards them and when the crowd realized it was gold coins, the song slowly dissolved into excited screams.

Draco shook his head as the coins bounced off off of him to see Hermione was studying a coin closely with the biggest smile he had seen on her face. He gently grabbed her arm to get her attention before he whispered in her ear. "I think you just made this year better than the year my father gifted me a summer home in Istanbul."

Hermione's elated feeling at his compliment was forgotten about when her face dropped into a perfect 'O.' "A _what_? How old were you?" Hermione looked back at Lucius who seemed annoyed by the falling coins and cast a shield above Narcissa and him. Even though she was aware that the Leprechaun gold would disappear in a few days, she couldn't help but think the sight of Lucius being annoyed by raining money was a perfect image for the man. The Malfoys really did have _too_ much money. She looked up at Draco who had the oddest look on his face as he stopped laughing at her reaction. She couldn't quite place it, but she had seen Ron give her the same look several times at the campsite today...

The shamrock dissolved and the Leprechauns drifted down onto the field, opposite from the Veelas. Hermione used her Omnioculars to look at the red-bearded creatures to break the unfamiliar tension building between her and Draco. She had started to get to the point in her crush where she would start to stare at him for an uncomfortable amount of time that it left her leaving unsettled after realizing she was getting lost in him.

"What a splendid show both mascots have shown us today!" Finally, the score board lit up reading BULGARIA: 00 / IRELAND: 00. Bagman once again started announcing so the Quidditch Cup could officially begin. "If everyone could take their seats, we could kindly welcome the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you... Krum!..."

* * *

"What did he catch the snitch for?" Ron bellowed, even while cheering for Ireland's win. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"

_He knew they were never going to catch up_, Draco thought as Harry explained this to Ron out loud. _That was noble, ending things on his own terms._ Draco couldn't help but admire the decision Viktor Krum made. It wasn't his style, but he still respected it.

"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Draco barely caught Hermione's words over the crowds cheering. She looked up at him before nodding towards Krum. "He looks a terrible mess though..." Hermione used her Omnioculars to check Krum out again. Draco didn't like her tone of voice and decided at that moment Krum deserved the bloody face.

Hermione found the trek down the stairs was much less nerve wracking than going up the stairs. She was unsure if it was the because the crowd was a mix of wizards singing 'We Are the Champions' and 'The Rocky Road to Dublin' or if it was because she was now accompanied by the Weasleys.

"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling." Arthur practically begged.

"Don't worry, Dad," Fred reassured at the same time he nudged George in with his elbow. We've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated." Arthur looked as if he was going to ask for Fred to elaborate on what that meant before deciding that he would rather not know.

When they exited the stadium, it was clear the festivities were only starting. The thousands of tiny Leprechauns were spread out over the numerous fields, creating an enchanting atmosphere as wizards removed instruments and kegs for their out door party. Hermione, Harry, and Ron were laughing and she barely noticed she was walking towards their tent when she felt a hand on the crook of her neck.

"Our tent is in another direction, Hermione." Usually when Lucius touched her, his command never traveled past his tone. This time though, she could feel the tension in his arm as he even had his thumb resting over across her spine and to touch the other side of her neck.

"Oh, I'm sure an hour or two of hanging out with friends would be fine." Lucius raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar, older Weasley. He couldn't remember if his name was Charles, Charlie or Chad, but he didn't think it mattered anyway. "Ron hardly had-"

"No, we ought to be getting to our tents." Arthur must have noticed the snarl building in Lucius' lip and started to intervene. "The Irish are known to be wild and I don't even want you out there tonight."

Charlie laughed, knowing he was too old to be told what he would and would not do, but backed off of Lucius anyway. "Another time then, Hermione." He gave her a two finger salute and she waved off the rest of the Weasleys. A part of her wanted to hug Ron and Harry, but the grip Lucius kept on her felt menacing enough for her to allow him to steer her away.

When they got to the tent, Hermione was surprised their wasn't a single silencing charm on it. She would have thought that the Malfoys would have prepared for peace and quiet, but she didn't mind. She was still in a buzz from the most exciting game she had _ever_ saw and found _herself_ giving Draco verbal play-by-plays. She didn't think about his silence too much until she didn't get a reply when she said she wished she would have kept her eyes open for the Wronski Feint.

She stopped by placing her hands on her hips, taking in his intense, but unfocused stare. "Draco, what's wrong?" He knew he was often more laid back than her housemates, but this was the _Quidditch World Cup_! She expected him to be more excited and show her more of what she had seen at the manor or in the top box tonight; _Hermione felt slender, but firm fingers wrap around her arm before feeling the warmth of Draco's breath tickling her stray hairs against her ear. "I think you just made this year better than the year my father gifted me a summer home in Istanbul." The words filled her with delight and the look he held in his eyes were sucking her into a place where there was no gold, just silver..._ She wanted to be able to share her good day with Draco.

"I'm just tired." Draco sat there, chin in hands with his elbows propped on his knees. Now that she wasn't caught up in her own rant, she could see he was somewhat staring into space and not so much at her.

"That's what I tell Dr. Augsen when I don't feel like talking about what I'm actually feeling." He blinked before his eyes shifted to where she stood. "Tell me, what's on your mind."

"I..." Draco looked over to the tent's staircase that his parents had disappeared into. "I really am tired. Exhausted really. It's been a long day, don't you think?"

Hermione pursed her lips wondering if she would get an answer by pressing the issue of his melancholy mood, but decided not to. "You're starting to sound as old as your father looks."

"I am not _old_, I am distinguished." Hermione jumped and turned around as Draco erupted with laughter behind her. She had no clue how she did not hear Lucius nor Narcissa walk back downstairs.

Narcissa frowned at the two teens, but she knew they didn't really have time to chastise them. Nott had been insistent the Death Eaters assembled as soon as they could as the Ministry workers would be too preoccupied on trying to assess how rowdy the celebrations would be instead of keeping track of who was walking where. "Hermione, apologize to Lucius. I shouldn't have to tell you how rude that comment was."

Hermione ducked her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't really mean it, I promise. I was just-"

"Then it shouldn't have been said." Lucius didn't lift his eyes off of her until she blushed and Draco stopped laughing. "Minister Oblansk has invited us to breakfast in the morning so I'll need you to both to go to bed." Lucius had no qualms about using Draco and Hermione as alibis and wished Narcissa didn't either. She allowed him to, knowing that it would only help their story when the Ministry would interrogate them later. "_Now_." His eyes zeroed in on his son. Draco met his gaze and nodded, just as Hermione said "Yes, sir."

Lucius and Narcissa watched the teens walk up the stairs and waited until he didn't hear any more movement above him before moving. When he was sure they were in bed, Lucius held the tent door open for Narcissa to pass through. They started walking to the third field where Nott informed the decoy tent would be located.

Narcissa wrapped the pajama robes she and Lucius had changed in to around her tighter. She had done it for comfort, but feeling the silk slid around her fingers just made her nerves worse knowing it was only to put a show on for Hermione and Draco. "Do you think we should summon Crewe to watch them?"

"No, we need this to be as organic as possible. Putting too much trust in a house elf would just look suspicious - it's why we hired a governess to raise Draco instead of leaving him in Dobby's or Crewe's hands." It was a gentle reminder, but it was what she needed.

"Of course." Narcissa Midase Malfoy was named after two vain men, one who was too in love with himself and the other who was too in love with gold, but the names were chosen by her father as a reminder. A reminder to always choose wisely as looking back on things that could no longer be changed would be her undoing - as it often was for many Blacks. Narcissa believed she had always lived without regretting a single decision, until she realized she was in too deep with Voldemort. By that time though, her decision to follow him to the ends of the Earth was already made - Her regret set in stone.

It was only when she was walking across the grass that had been flattened and torn from the immense amounts of foot traffic that she wondered if her decision to join Voldemort was her only regret, or if it became a domino effect to create many more ultimatums she had to face.

The flap ensuring her privacy closed behind her while Hermione removed her pins and snood. She looked in her drawers for a change of clothes and fount that Narcissa made good on her comment to send all of Hermione's muggle clothing to the tent. She started to look through them all, trying to find the best outfit to wear outside, but then had the idea to stay in a dress. She realized it would be for the best as it would reduce the chance of Narcissa finding out she was planning on sneaking out. Hermione reused the pins to secure a bun on her head and tip toed to Draco's room that was right next to hers.

Hermione was surprised to see Draco simply sitting on his cot, despite claiming to be tired. In fact, he was still wearing the same clothes he had all day - only having taken the jacket off. "Are you going to change? Or are you going out dressed like that?"

Hermione wanted to laugh as Draco actually _sputtered_, but he looked at her as if she suddenly started speaking mermish, killing the humor in his reaction. "Pardon me? Did you not just hear my parents say we were needed early tomorrow? I'm not going anywhere."

Hermione nearly frowned, but she thought she should have anticipated that his fear of Lucius and Narcissa would trump him wanting to sneak around the fun going on outside. "I did, but think about all the amazing things going on out there! Today is the first day in so long where I can say it's a _good_ day and I just want to experience-"

"I can't!" Draco rubbed his face. _This was NOT supposed to happen._ _Hermione is the one who prefers to do inside activities and _now _is when she chooses to be active?_

"Shhh!" Hermione ran over to where he sat, a finger over her lips. "They're in the next room, Draco!"

His stomach churned with guilt seeing she bought his parent's lie. "I want to, but I really am tired, Hermione. I think it's best if we both just went to bed. Dad nearly bit your head off calling him 'old' and I can only imagine what he would do if he discovered we had snuck out." Her face started to fall and he looked away, not wanting to see it, especially with what he had to say next. "Things have been excellent between my father and I this summer. I don't want to risk ruining it." He felt like he was always at risk to disrupt the tense, but calm relationship that Draco and his father now had. Walking on eggshells seemed like an understatement; There had been nights where Draco would be up pacing or rearranging and reorganizing his room to try dealing with the anxiety the foreboding dread he constantly felt caused him. The fact that the night was not over yet for them kept him sitting in one spot, his muscles tense as if moving too much would speed up time and cause the inevitable to happen before he was ready.

Hermione could feel her cheeks redden as she panicked from the second round of embarrassment she felt that night. Hearing Draco refer to Lucius as _dad_ convinced her that she needed to respect his wishes. "Right. I shouldn't ask that of you." Her voice was low and she wished for the hundredth time that things were different. She started to walk back to her room, but stopped right before she pulled it down. She glanced between Draco's room, her guardian's room, and the stairs that were just past it. The tent, with all its space felt too small for her. The last thing she wanted to do was sit in the unfamiliar space and wallow in what she labeled as her _stupidity_.

Hermione tip toed across the cloth floor, grasping through her adrenaline rush that magic had a way of dismissing the laws of physics and she would _never_ get used to it. When she was across the hall from Narcissa's and Lucius' flap she paused knowing she had to be extra careful. She tried to listen for any voices or snoring, but when she heard none, she continued to sneak towards the staircase.

Stepping outside again, she realized the tent must have had a very light silencing charm as the grounds were _much_ louder and she swore she must have seen a parade between a field of tents. She took several deep breaths as the feeling of being free settled within her. She had her hands on her knees and didn't think about moving until she made eye contact with one of the manor's peacocks. "You're quite ugly up close." The bird opened up it's tail at her and ruffled it's feathers in response and she started to walk off, knowing an attack was probably going to come next if she antagonized the bird. _Seamus said he would be celebrating, now where was his -_

Hermione had only made it past a few tents when someone grabbed her from behind and picked her up. They put a hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream while they pulled her away from the crowd. She kicked and screamed wildly, but it was to no avail as they pulled her out of sight between two tents.

One of the last things she saw before being pulled out of the open area was the Malfoy tent, and screamed Draco's name as she cried into the hand over her mouth, knowing it was useless.

* * *

Lucius and Narcissa sat stone faced with their backs pin straight as they had for every Death Eater meeting. Nott, Sr. had put tea and biscuits out for everyone, but no one touched them. No one with a survivalist cell in their body would consume anything gifted by a Death Eater, especially when everyone but Theo knew Nott, Sr. poisoned his wife. It was a fact that never left Narcissa's mind and she would have thanked him if things were different as she used the same method he did to drug Fudge into being more of a Malfoy-loving idiot around the time of the gala. An elongated muggle syringe was ingenious for making something look like it had not been tampered with and it didn't leave a magical footprint either.

Lucius listened with one ear as his eyes drifted around the gathering. He thought they would have thinned out over the years, but nearly Death Eater who escaped Azkaban was in attendance: Avery, who like Lucius had claimed he was under the imperious curse, Crabbe Sr., the Carrows (Lucius placed an arm on the back of Narcissa's chair when he saw they were there, knowing how she despised them), Gibbon, Goyle, Sr., Rosier, Selwyn, and Yaxley. Narcissa had crossed her legs and placed a hand in Lucius' lap when she saw him there, knowing that Lucius was always at Yaxley's neck. They had hoped the Carrows and Yaxley would have been sent to Azkaban like the Lestranges, as they had been just as bad, but instead the mystery of how they escaped the life long sentence remained a mystery to them both.

"Does everyone understand what we are to here to do?" Nott, Sr.'s beady eyes fell on to all of his former allies, all dressed in their black robes that they changed into once they were inside his tent. A collective "Aye" sounded from them and he looked at Theo. "Get this mess out of here, boy."

Theo sprang forward from his seat on the floor to the small table the tea and biscuits were displayed on. Lucius internally winced when he saw Theo stumble and knock his knee into the table, causing some of the more bloodthirsty Death Eaters to chuckle. Theo already had bruises covering the left side of his face and neck and no one in the tent doubted his little 'mistake' would cause him to be given more. Lucius looked at Theo's father and watched his reaction as his son passed by him. Nott, Sr. looked monstrous and Lucius became riddled with questions. _Is that what I had looked like to Draco? Did I ever let his bruises grow past blue and black to a bloody red and purple? Was I wrong to be so forceful? _And the one he never wanted to think about again, but knew he would: _Does my son think I resent him?_

When Theo came back, Nott, Sr. Angrily shoved the small silver mask into his son's chest. "It's time. You better not make a fool out of me." There were multiple exits for the Death Eaters to pour out of the decoy tent. The Death Eaters had been told it had been magicked to disappear once it was empty, making sure the Ministry would not be able to trace it back to anyone present.

After Narcissa and Lucius put their hoods up and their masks on, they faced each other. They always did this before going on any missions and with the high stakes of tonight, they did not see how it would be any different. Their masks blacked out their eyes and any open spaces where their lips could be seen, so they checked each other to ensure their hair was tucked away so they left nothing that could be identified by a living witness. Lucius voice was slightly distorted, but Narcissa did feel some relief when he recited a portion of their vows, a way to tell her that she was fine, she would be fine, and that he loved her. "_You cannot command me, for I am a free person, but I shall serve you in those ways you require_."

"_And the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand_." Narcissa finished the vow as she cast a sticking charm on one lock of hair he was never able to secure tight enough when styling his hair to accommodate the mask.

He pulled the flap of the decoy tent back for her, and she stepped out to come face to face with the Ministry official who had checked their tickets at the stadium's entrance earlier. The poor witch did not even have time to reach for her wand. "_Crucio."_

* * *

Draco anxiously tapped his foot as he glanced down at Hermione's watch she had lent to him for use. They had ten minutes to get back to the tent and instead he was watching her dance with Seamus Finnigan to some Irish jig about a drunken sailor. He scowled as he watched the Irish bloke twirl Hermione around and he wished he wasn't mad at her. He _wanted_ to dance when her instead of push her away when she had asked him to three times before, but he was still extremely cross with her for guilt tripping him. Draco didn't _mean_ to cause her to nearly have a panic attack when he grabbed her - the only reason why he put a hand over her mouth was to stop her from drawing the wrong attention. It wasn't _his_ fault that Gryffindors were as quiet as several pots being thrown down the stairs.

Still, Hermione wouldn't hear his reasoning and when he tried to bring her back into the tent, she nearly bit him. Draco couldn't argue with her as he _had_ tried to manhandle her a second time, but his hands were tied. He only wanted them to be safe and follow the path Lucius told him to stick to. A path he was sure he would be unable to pinpoint if he didn't start from the tent. Above all else though, his father had told him to stick with Hermione and following her out was the best thing he could do after making her promise to be back at the tent within an hour.

The song ended and Hermione said something to Seamus before walking over to Draco as the next song started. "Your hour is almost up, we should head back now." He passed her the mug filled with butterbeer a random wizard had been passing around and she gulped it down greedily.

"Mmmm." She became sightly overzealous while drinking and the sugary drink started to spill out of the corner of her mouth. She pulled the mug away from her lips and wiped the trail of butterbeer with her thumb before licking it off.

"What a lady." Draco tried to keep his tone level as he watched her, but it was hard. He didn't want to acknowledge that despite him being cross, he was happy she was getting the most out of the night before all hell broke loose. Now that she was in front of him though, he was more distracted how the sweat soaked sheer cape clung to her chest than his anger.

Hermione didn't even blink at his comment before ignoring it. "I suppose we can head back."

"Thank Merli-"

"After you dance with me." Hermione passed the mug to a wizard who was standing by them before pulling Draco in the cleared circle of dancers by his wrists.

"What? No-" Hermione pulled him so her body was flush with his as she lifted his arms. He was surprised by how strong she was, and could see why Theo had complained so much about her trying to lead a dance. Draco was reminded of the first dream he had with her in it and in that moment of weakness, he said something he knew he shouldn't have. "I don't know how to dance like them." He glanced over her head at the jovial Irish and Brits around them, nervous as they were much too relaxed with their dancing.

Hermione beamed as Draco finally surrendered. "Just go with it." Before he had the chance to chicken out, she took a step back and now he _had_ to move so they would not be ran over by the next couple. He pulled her into a turn and she laughed as he lost balance, but saved him from falling.

"Try bouncing! Or skipping!" Draco looked over his shoulder at Seamus who was standing off to the side with a woman he assumed to be his mother. Both were clapping to the beat as they watched the dancers keep time with the music.

Hermione wrapped one arm around him and used her others to grab his hand. "Together?" The other dancers were having to move around them and while Hermione was finally happy to get Draco to dance, she was not wanting to piss off the wrong Irish wizard. She had seen Seamus' temper _once_ and that had been enough for her.

"Together." Draco cleared his throat and before he knew it they were keeping up with the other dancers. When he got more comfortable he spun Hermione, causing her to giggle in his arms. The sound was like hearing a newborn baby Occamy mew and it filled Draco with so much joy he couldn't help, but laugh with her. Between their fits of laughter and Draco getting creative with how he guided her, Draco briefly forgot about his troubles. He only knew he was dancing with a girl he fancied after watching a professional match of his favorite sport. In those moments of bliss, he was not the Malfoy heir, the blonde Slytherin bully or the son of two formerly high ranking Death Eaters.

Instead, he was happy.

When the bagpipes and the drums finally stopped, his mirth did not even when he pulled her to the side to stop dancing. He was however out of breath, making him self-conscious of how he looked in front of Hermione, especially when he was used to looking reserved in front of others.

Hermione's eyes were bright, finally seeing the smile she had been waiting for all day again. "See? Outside is _fun_." He waved her off as he gripped the small stitch in his side and looked down at her. For some reason, he felt himself sobering up with the thoughts of how beautiful she looked right now entered his head. Draco didn't _want_ to see her dance with anyone else, _especially_ if that's what it felt like - It was almost as if he just experienced another type of magic. "Draco?"

Hermione's heart was beating much too fast and she knew it wasn't because of the dancing. Draco was looking at her like he wanted to say something - or do something. It was similar to the look that Ron gave her before, but she welcomed it feeling her heart flutter in response. He didn't respond when she called out her name, but he did start to lower his face to hers. She froze, not knowing what his intentions were. _Surely he's not going to kiss-_

_"EXPULSO!"_

Hermione didn't find out what Draco was going to do next as one of the tents covered in four-leaf clovers exploded into flames, causing every wizard around them to run away screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate to end it here D: This is (obviously) going to be a three-parter (I really hope it does not become four.) I hope to have it done as soon as possible and when I do, I will be officially announcing dates for my biweekly update schedule! This has been asked of me by many and after taking a break, I think it's time I at least give it a trial to see how I do with it. Best case scenario: I don't have to take another hiatus, and I can get ahead with chapters, or give myself time to write other stories without putting this off. Worst case: I go back to writing by the edge of my seat haha.
> 
> Of course I will always let you know if there will be foreseeable delays in my A/N, but if there is a delay between chapter updates, only my Facebook Group (Starryar Writes!) will know as I will not be posting 'letters' or 'faux updates' here.
> 
> Songs mentioned: 
> 
> We Will Rock You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UVDDd4r31U (This isn't me, I just wanted to use a female cover haha)  
We Are The Champions by Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmd4OLzhQw0  
Rocky Road to Dublin by The High Kings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QdbeM2JWYE  
Drunken Sailor by The Irish Rovers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyPuey-1Jw  
Irish Party in Third Class by Gaelic Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_CsykS5YHI  
(Many of you know this song from TItanic and it is one of my FAVORITE scenes - so ofc it inspired my scene where Draco and Hermione are dancing)


	38. The Quidditch World Cup (Part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy the last and final part of the Quidditch Cup chapters! I will officially be starting the biweekly updates on Sunday. I published this one a little early because it is a part of the other chapters.
> 
> Next update will be 9/20/20.

Seeing the tent explode behind Hermione was a reality check on where Draco was and what he was doing. He didn't stop to see the look of horror on her face when she turned around as he made to grab her wrist. She jerked from how abruptly he had pulled her, but she started running with some of the other Irish supporters who realized the explosion was not another fire work that had gone off. They weaved between the tents that had been moved around to make a small clearing for dancing and ran onto one of the main paths that had made by the Ministry for the game.

Draco realized too late that running to the path had been a mistake. Now to his right, several meters ahead, he saw a group of Death Eaters who were causing the mayhem. Above them, Draco saw that the Death Eaters were levitating four muggles: Mr. Roberts, his wife and their two children. His eyes widened as his brain absorbed the sight. Whispered snippets of stories his parents would tell him about Lord Voldemort and his escapades rose to his conscious. His eyes wildly dashed between each cloaked member, but he had no way of telling which one was his parents behind the silver masks. _Maybe they're not even here, maybe they're one of the Death Eaters rounding the crowds into the middle of the fields -_

_Fuck, we're in the middle of the field!_

A harsh tug on his arm brought him back to the present again. "Draco, RUN!" Hermione yanked on his arm once more, but he didn't need to be told twice. They ran just as spells were sent to where they had stood - The heat of the spell whizzing by them made his sweat soaked shirt briefly flash cold.

Soon, they were swallowed in by the crowd, everyone seemingly being awake now and in a panic. Draco glanced around wildly, trying to remember in the heat of the moment where exactly they were located and if he could guide Hermione to the small clearing he was told to bring her to, but it was no use. There were too many wizards around them for him to even catch a glimpse of a landmark. Draco used reason to keep himself calm and came to terms with the fact that even if he tried to separate he and Hermione from the stampede, their hold would break and he would loose her in the crowd.

That was something he was not willing to risk.

However, this was exactly what had happened when a wizard got between them and he suddenly didn't feel her hand on his wrist anymore. He turned just as she saw panic on her face as their eyes locked before her face dipped out of sight. Just as they were nearing the edge of the tents that would lead them into the forest, it happened. "AAAH!" He heard her high-pitched scream and saw her arms disappear into the sea of the crowd, but no one except from Draco stopped. Draco had never felt such a rush of anger and adrenaline before and he immediately started to fight realizing no one would stop to help her. Wizards were coming at him full speed, yet he started to shove them out of the way in an attempt to get to her.

"HERMIONE! SOD OFF! Someone fell- GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Draco's panic peaked realizing he was not getting any closer to her and may have in fact been getting further away from her as he kept getting over powered by the adults. He had never felt so vulnerable or helpless before and the more he had to fight, the worst it got. He was supposed to be at the elite, at the top where everything should have gone his way, but the night was quickly changing everything. "STOP IT-"

Draco could hardly believe it when he saw Hermione's brunette head reappear in the crowd again, but this time it was sandwiched between a shaggy black haired boy and a tousled red haired boy. His surprise had him pause before he started moving again. Instead of fighting the crowd directly though, Draco fought to travel sideways to meet Hermione's savors. Not once did Draco ever think he would be grateful to see Potter and Weasley before - nor the she-weasel who was leading them out of the crowd by Harry's hand. "Let's get her over to the side." She instructed them. They hadn't noticed Draco yet as he silently followed them. Now that he was somewhat able to calm down seeing Hermione had help, and could hear things other than his blood rushing in his ears, he noticed Hermione was whimpering in pain. Draco's fatigued arms tensed as his hands tightened into fists. _Why can't I do anything right?_

When they were finally able to break free of the rush in a safe place for Hermione to be placed on the ground, the Gryffindors finally noticed him. "Oh, look who decided to join us." Draco nearly snarled at Ron, but Hermione's whimper of pain kept his attention on her as he knelt by her feet.

"What's wrong?" Draco's voice wasn't as kind as it often was with her, but he was more than aware he was going to raise questions with how attentive he was being regardless of how he spoke. Her friends would have expected him to throw slurs and laugh at her pain, not try to comfort her.

Draco could see that Hermione was not just whimpering, but crying. "My hand, and- and- my foot again." _Of course_. Hermione wasn't a complete klutz, especially on her own two feet, but it would only make sense she would fall if she only had one enchanted boot while the other was not. _Her hand, however - _When she held it out to him he cursed and immediately pulled out his wand. _Someone stepped on her!_ Draco wished he knew who it was so he could throw them into the group of Death Eaters he could still hear causing a commotion on the other side of the trees.

"What are you doing? You can't do magic outside of Hogwarts." Ron asked, slightly dumbfounded that Malfoy was going to perform underage magic as if it was no big deal.

"Why stop him then? It'd be good to go back to Hogwarts without Malfoy ruining all the fun." Draco never thought Ginny would be the most venomous of the Weasleys, but he couldn't say he didn't understand why.

Draco didn't answer Ron's question, and decided to bite back the snide remark that was on the tip of his tongue since he knew something they did not. Granted, it wasn't common information that was easily come across, and he only knew of it because Lucius had told Draco about it the night he debriefed Draco on what Nott. Sr. had planned: _"In the event these plans were to go awry, and some halfwit Ministry buffoon tries to stop you from defending yourself with magic, let him know you are aware of your rights. In Clause seven of Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, you can use your wand in life or death situation, Draco." Lucius paused. "It shouldn't come to that though."_

"This is going to hurt." Hermione had bit her lip and nodded her understanding as she braced herself. Draco gently held her by her wrist as he focused in on his magic coursing through his wand. "_Episkey._" He was more focused than he thought and was able to heal both of her mangled fingers at once, cracking several times with an audible _snap_ as they corrected themselves. He wanted to tear his eyes aware from the sight, but not only was he transfixed on the horrible sight, his only other option would be to watch Hermione biting back a scream.

Draco looked down at her foot, but her boot blended in with the dark ground. The light of the moon and stars were blocked out by not just the thin trees, but now the smoke from the campsite being burned. Draco thought they were still too close to the mouth of the forest and wanted to heal her as fast as possible so they can move away from the wizards flooding the forest, but it would be risky to heal her with barely any visual. "I can't see-"

Hermione was already moving to provide him light. "_Lumos_." Her boot was covered in dirt and mud, but the situation at hand was too intense for him to complain about getting his hands dirty. He tried to tuck a pinky finger into the cuff of the boot to see if he would be able to slip it off, but Hermione hissed from the pressure. He bit the inside of his cheek as he wondered if he should cut off her boot. If he did, the pain would worsen as the footwear was holding her foot in place, but only before he could heal it in full. If he decided to keep it on though, it may take him longer to figure out what needed to be addressed as he would have to rely on Hermione telling him what she felt instead of seeing the issue himself.

"Watch it, Malfoy. If you're going to help her, make sure you don't hurt her." Ron stood there with his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down on Draco.

Draco now felt his anger that was directed at himself, rear its head at Ron. "I don't see _you _trying to make yourself useful."

Ron opened his mouth to say something back, but Ginny cut in. "We need to get further into the forest, Ron. Shut up and let him heal her." Her blue eyes flicked down to Draco, and he didn't miss she was gripping her wand tightly. "You _are _trying to heal her, aren't you? I bet your parents are out there wearing masks while _my_ dad is trying to fight them-"

"What did you say?" Draco shot up to his feet to stare Ginny down, but Harry stood in front of her as he reached for his wand. Draco could feel the tip of Ron's wand between his shoulder blades, but Draco barely paid it any mind as he was beyond livid. He had never met anyone his age with the courage to talk to him like that before.

"_Honestly_-" Whatever Hermione was going to say was cut short by the bit of panic laced in Harry's voice.

"I don't believe it... I lost my wand!" All five of them went silent as Harry continued to pat his pants in a fruitless attempt to locate his wand.

Draco grit his teeth and rolled his eyes at the incompetence of Hermione's friends before he got on one knee again. He was surprised to see Hermione had cast a _Diffindo_ on both sides of the boot, making Draco's decision for him. "Shit, Hermione." Her entire ankle was not just swollen, but purple. She looked away as she propped her wand on her knee to keep the light steady. "Whatever you do, don't move." She nodded with her eyes shut tight and Draco once again found himself admiring her strength. The feeling was closely followed by guilt, but he knew now was not the time to dwell on it as he slipped a hand under her calf. "_Contra Mendacium_."

This time Hermione couldn't hold in her cry of pain as her bones shifted beneath her bruised skin. Tears quickly reappeared in her ducts and she tried to pull her leg away, but Draco firmly held her calf in place. This time when the spell had finished its work, there was still a significant amount of pain still remaining. Draco ran his wand over her ankle repeating a slightly more complex incantation to heal the bruised skin and damaged muscles. When he was done, her ankle looked like it was never damaged in the first place.

She slipped her foot back into the boot and started to cast a _reparo, _but Ginny intervened. "I told you that spell doesn't work that well on clothing. "_Restituo_."

Once the shoes were mended, both Draco and Ron held out a hand to help Hermione up. Draco's jaw fluttered with annoyance, but he did not let his hand nor his gaze drop from Hermione. Hermione glanced between the two before deciding to use both of their hands to help herself up. "Ginny, where have the others gone to?"

Ginny tore her eyes from her brother and Draco to look at Hermione. "Dad, Charlie, Bill and Percy went to help the Ministry. Fred and George got separated."

"Reckon we should look for them." Ron stepped forward so he was between Hermione and Draco as he spoke to a determined Ginny along with a still mildly confused Harry. "Fred and George can't have gone that far." Ron cast lumos and so did Ginny. He looked at Hermione, ignoring Draco entirely. "Dad said we should stick together if we found you, are you coming?"

Hermione peered around Ron to look at Draco. It was only a matter of time before Harry or Ron said something about how 'weird' she and Draco were acting and didn't see the point in hiding their companionship anymore. "Will you come with us?"

Draco exhaled through his nose. It didn't matter what he wanted to do, he was still going to stay by her side. He couldn't find the right words to say this though, so he resorted to shrugging a shoulder and grunting as if there was nothing better to do. Ron walked to the front of their small group and Draco thought he could feel the anger rolling off of him even though he and Hermione were following at a considerable amount of distance away. "Is he always like that?" Hermione had her lips pressed together in thought and shook her head in reply.

No one spoke as they passed several groups of wizards. Draco recognized some witches from Beauxbatons, some from the Salem Witches Institute and some white robed wizards from Uagadou school of magic. When Draco thought that he would break the silence by suggesting to Hermione they head back to look for his parents, they heard a rustling sound that made everyone, but Hermione jump as she pointed her wand towards it instead.

"There is bad wizards about!" The house elf he and Hermione saw earlier in the Top Box was leaned forward as she tried to run, but looked as if she was being held back. "People high- high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way! Winky doesn't like heights!"

"What's up with her?" Ron turned to look at Harry, a curious look on his face. "Why can't she run properly." Hermione relaxed as she and Ginny joined Ron and Harry, leaving Draco to stand a few feet away by himself.

"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide. I spoke to her when we were in the Top Box earlier and she mentioned she was saving a seat for her Master. She's scared of heights and-"

Hermione tsked, causing Harry to pause and look at her. "If what Percy said is true - which I doubt he's wrong - house elves get a _very_ raw deal!" Draco rolled his eyes at seeing her getting worked up over creatures in the middle of an attack, but remained quiet to avoid egging her on. "It's slavery, that's what it is! She's bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone _do_ something about how elves are treated?"

"Well, the elves are happy, aren't they?" Ron said. "I reckon she likes being bossed around-"

"You know, It's people like _you_, Ron, who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to-" Hermione was yelling now and Ron didn't seem to look like he was going to back down from her.

Draco took a step closer to them just as a loud bang sounded off at the edge of the wood causing Hermione to stop mid-tirade. "Let's keep moving now, shall we?" No one expected Draco to be the one to speak, but no one argued. If Nott, Sr. and his parents were not done, he wanted to keep Hermione as far away as possible, knowing she was the one who would be in the most danger out of them all.

The longer they followed the dark path into the heart of the woods, the less life they saw. Draco didn't think they they intended to go this far, as the only reason they decided to keep walking after they saw two goblins counting the gold out of a coin purse they had between them was because they ran into a flock of veela that had Ron making up lies in an attempt to impress one of them. The screaming and the blasts of magic could no longer be heard and Draco was unsure if that meant that the death eaters had finally stopped or if it meant that they were too deep in the woods they couldn't hear anything.

"I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off." Draco was fine with this plan, thinking his parents would be the first ones to arrive once things settled down. They had placed tracking charms on their shoes for a reason, and he knew he wouldn't have to worry about them. When he looked at Hermione, he saw that she was staring at him, too. Other than her healed injuries and her hair being a mess, she looked okay. _I nearly kissed her._ Draco didn't know what to make of that thought and instead focused on her hair. _I would hate for my hair to look like that. I wonder what she's thinking._

Hermione walked over to Draco and placed a hand on his arm. She thought the worried look on his face was for his parents, as she was concerned about them too, despite knowing they should be able to handle themselves. _Even if they were caught off guard... they'll be fine, right?_ "Hey, are you alright?"

Draco blinked twice before answering her due to being lost in his thoughts. "I should be asking you that."

Hermione inhaled before nodding and looking away. "I have a headache, but I'm worried about your parents and the twins more than anything."

The mention of a headache put him on guard. "Are you sure-"

"So what are you, now? Friends?" Ron looked up from where he plopped himself on the ground. He had bought a miniature figurine of an animated Viktor Krum and had placed it on the ground to keep his thoughts off of Draco, but hearing him and Hermione act _civilly_ bothered him enough to speak.

Hermione, perhaps still a bit more defensive over the house elf argument, was the one to answer. "We live together, Ron. Don't you think we would have killed each other by now otherwise?"

"But he calls you 'mudblood'." Ron shot back.

"_Called_, Weasel. Past tense." _Is cause and effect such a foreign concept? _Draco met Ron's scowl with his own.

"Don't call him that-" Draco had opened his mouth again to reply, but Hermione spoke first, her eyes settling on the Krum figurine before Ginny interrupted her.

"I nearly died because of his family, though." Ginny was still standing, this time with her arms crossed as she bore holes into Hermione.

"Yes, well, I can't say Lucius and I are completely friendly, but Draco had nothing to do with that." Ginny took Hermione's answer as a dismissal of her feelings and turned away, kicking at a rotten branch she saw sitting by her instead of arguing.

"_Draco_." Harry repeated. Not quite a question, not quite a statement, but an analyzation on how close they may have become.

"I'm friends with _Hermione_, Potter. Not you, so I recommend you stick to 'Malfoy' when talking to me."

"No thanks, I rather stick to-"

"What are you doing in here, all alone?" Ludo Bagman emerged from the thicket of trees closest to Ginny, his face pale and his voice strained - very different from the frat boy attitude he had earlier.

Everyone exchanged a look before Ron spoke, motioning back from where they came with a pointed thumb. "There's a bit of a riot going on back at the campsite."

Bagman simply stared at him, not wanting to fully processing what he had just said. "What?"

"At the campsite," Ginny tried. "Some people have got hold of a family of Muggles."

Bagman swore so loudly that there was a faint echo bouncing off the foliage. Without another word, he disapperate with a pop leaving them unsupervised again.

"Not exactly on top of things, is he?" Hermione said frowning, hoping the topic would not revert back to she and Draco. "Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight." Hermione played with the cross on her necklace as she spoke. "I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or do you think this was planned?" Draco blinked at her several times and had to physically restrain himself from providing an answer. _She probably doesn't even know that they're wearing Death Eater masks._ Draco looked at the rest of the group, all who were in their own thoughts. _Perhaps none of them do, Ron did call it a riot-_

Hermione whipped around to the sound of staggering steps coming from behind her. There were several more uneven steps before the sound came to a halt. Hermione felt a sense of foreboding and quietly said '_nox'_ before stepping to the side. She heard Draco do the same before he took a step closer to her, wand at the ready to curse any malicious creature or wizard that would jump out at them. If someone who had already survived so much was put on guard, he saw no reason why he shouldn't follow her lead.

"Hello?" Harry called out.

Without another sound being made, the silence was ripped apart as a deep and raspy voice shouted out a single word spell: "_MORSMORDRE_!"

Hermione, Ron, and Ginny joined Draco in raising their wands towards the dark trees. Their attention though, was shifted to the treetops where a green and Glittering haze was gathering. It almost looked like another Leprechaun formation until the form became clear, reminding Hermione and Draco of the image Lucius had on his left arm.

* * *

_Children! Nott never mentioned there were children! _Narcissa had her wand aimed high as she kept a strong hold of the protective charms on the two muggle children. She was supposed to be with Lucius on the front lines, fighting off the Ministry officials who came to stop them, but as soon as she saw the muggle had two _children_ in the Carrows grasp, she fell back to make sure the Death Eaters didn't get _too_ ambitious. When Selwyn flipped the muggle woman upside down, putting her knickers on display, Narcissa sent a light stunner to the two children. Nothing to shock their systems - she was careful of this as one of them were still a toddler - but it was strong enough to knock them unconscious. They had already seen too much and knew the Ministry was going to have enough work at wiping their memories. Her stomach churned at how the unconscious toddler's head lolled back and forth as it was absolutely sickening seeing a young body so lifeless, but her churning stomach seemed to drop to her feet once she saw the dark mark enter the sky.

_That wasn't part of the plan!_

The Death Eaters stopped their march at once, the only ones still moving were the ones dueling the Ministry officials at the front - something they cut short immediately with well placed curses and hexes. Save for little Theo, the adults were more than capable for taking out the aurors who would be present tonight. Dueling was only a part of the fun to them.

Before she could take her next breath, half of the Death Eaters disapperated, the Carrows included, leaving their hostages to free fall. She didn't hesitate to drop her free hand to the ground to use her fairy magic to soften the earth, leaving the muggles unharmed when they fell. She didn't dare use her wand anymore and in fact lifted everything that had been cast on them as they fell, leaving nothing to be tracked by the aurors. Narcissa ran and met Lucius in the middle of the now empty field as they were the only Death Eaters left. Their plan was for Narcissa to disapparate them to an empty tent, out of the Ministry's sight to transfigure their robes, before apperating to the clearing Hermione and Draco were to be waiting in. Lucius had always allowed Narcissa to perform their side apperation on missions as she was so skilled with apperation, her _pop_ was barely perceivable, leaving their escapes nearly completely silent.

As soon as Lucius was in arms reach, she quickly hugged her husband's chest with their free arm and used the momentum of their bodies colliding for the turn she needed to do to apperate directly into the clearing. "DRACO!" Narcissa wildly looked around before Lucius grabbed her arm.

"Your robes, Narcissa!" Lucius was caught off guard that she chose to directly apparate into their safe point instead of a tent. He vanished both of their masks before transfiguring the black robes into his night wear.

"HERMIONE!" Lucius turned to his wife and took it upon himself to transfigure his wife's robes back to their original state. For a brief second he hoped Draco and Hermione, especially, were not present to see them in the Death Eater robes as Hermione was _not_ going to take the news well. As soon as he finished thinking this though, Narcissa was in front of him again, panic in her eyes this time. "Lucius, they're not here." She turned and waved her wand in front of her. "_Homenum Revelio_, they're not here!"

Narcissa's hands flew to her face and he placed his hands on her shoulders. He knew why she was loosing her mind and he refused to look at the sky to avoid going into a panic with her. "They're going to be fine when we find them, Narcissa." He ran a hand over her hair as she shook in his arm. "Use the tracking charm. They'll be okay, they probably got lost."

When Narcissa nodded her head and swallowed, regaining her composure at the mention of the tracking charms. It was only when she turned away from him and recited the incantation to find Hermione and Draco that he glanced up at the Dark Mark in the sky. He thought all of the Death Eaters had stuck together, but there was so much going on, he wasn't entirely sure.

_If Yaxley or anyone else had gotten to either of them, I swear I'll disembowel them all._

* * *

The chorus of screams that erupted from the woods around them was an unnecessary cue for all five teens to beginning running. They had only stopped seconds after starting their sprint because of the loud _pops_ starting to sound off around them. Before their next foot could hit the ground, they were surrounded by twenty or so Wizards - All with their wands out and pointed at them.

"DUCK!"

When Draco registered Harry's warning, he skidded to such a quick stop, he fell right onto his arse as Harry pulled Ron and Ginny down. The only one left standing was Hermione.

"STUPEFY!" The twenty voices casting the hex in unison made a chill run though Draco before he was blinded by the series of white flashes that he was sure was leveling the trees around them. Draco was so scared he thrown a hand above his own head, hoping it would stop soon so that he and Hermione could go back to the manor- _Hermione!_

"Stop! STOP! _Those two are mine!_" Draco didn't recognize the voice, but he was grateful to know the wizards had listened to it whoever their savor was. "The hexes aren't doing anything."

_What? _Draco opened his eyes to see Arthur Weasley was right. Their hexes weren't even coming near them.

Hermione was still standing, and not taken out the stunners that had been sent her way like she should had been. Instead, she had cast a shield charm that kept them in a protected blue capsule. Draco was once again in awe of her as he had never even heard of a charm strong enough to take that many spells at once.

When Hermione didn't release the charm though, the Ministry officials walked closer, Arthur being in the lead. "Ginny- Harry-" His voice sounded shaky. "Hermione? It's Arthur, it's just me and my coworkers here."

Draco got to his feet and stood next to the arm that was holding her wand. It was then he was able to see that she also had her other arm extended in front of her, as if she was reaching out for something. "You can put your wand down." He kept his voice soft as his eyes searched her face. She seemed almost frozen, with a remorseful look on her face. He had never seen her like this before.

Ginny was still holding on to Harry, but he broke away from her to stand on Hermione's other side. Harry's green eyes flicked from Draco's concerned face to Hermione's unblinking one. If he didn't know better, Harry would say she had been petrified again. "Hey, you saved us, Hermione."

"I saved them?" Her voice was nearly none existent and Draco almost missed what she said, even standing as close as he did to her.

"Ye- yeah. You saved _us._" With Harry's emphasis on the last word Hermione's eye lids fluttered and she looked at him, finally coming back to the present.

"Ohh, I-." When she let her arm drop, the shield immediately dissipated. Tears sprung to her eyes and Hermione turned and buried herself into Harry's chest.

Draco felt an assortment of feelings as he watched her shoulders shake as she stifled her sobs, hurt being the most prominent, but he wasted no time trying to cover up his feelings beneath a mask of occulemency as the rest of the Ministry workers crowded them. _Calm down, calm down, calm-_

"Out of the way, Arthur." A cold, curt voice made its cut way through the tense atmosphere.

One arm weakly patting Hermione on the back, Harry turned to face Crouch whose face was taut with rage. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"What? We didn't do that!" Harry said as he took his hand from Hermione's back to point at the sky above them.

"Is that what you wanted to attack us for?" Ron added. "We didn't do anything!"

"Do not lie, sir! You five, have been discovered at the scene of a crime!" Crouch took a step towards Ron before turning to Draco. "You- What's your name? Lucius' son, aren't you?"

Being caught off guard, Draco reverted back to his usual stance when being yelled at by his father at such a close range - He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down, hoping it would stop soon. _Don't move. Don't say anything. If you just stand here, he'll stop..._

"Barty," whispered a witch standing by Arthur. "They're kids, Barty, they haven't been alive-"

Ginny ran into her father's arms and he held on to her, looking between her and the other kids. "Where did the mark come from?"

In an attempt to take the attention off of him, Draco pointed to the spot they heard the deep voice. "They were behind those trees and they said an incantation-"

"Oh, stood over there, did they?" Crouch's eyes were starting to pop and Draco felt his self-hate bubble within him as he felt himself while he shrunk back under the man's ire. _Idiot! Why did you say anything? _"Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well-informed about how that Mark was summoned!"

"Leave him alone! We didn't do anything!" Her voice cracked as tears steamed down her reddened face still, but Hermione had turned from Harry to defend Draco. Harry still had one arm around her, but under the dark sky Draco was unsure if it was to hold her back or comfort her.

"We'd be too late, then." The witch who tried to calm Barty earlier said. "They'll have disapparated." It was apparent at how the others responded to her over Barty's accusations that no one else believed the children had anything to do with the dark mark.

"I don't think so. Our stunners went right through those trees... There's a good chance we got them..." Crouch moved away from Draco to turn back to his colleagues. Draco looked up being free of the older man's horrid breath and saw a wizard with a scrubby brown beard and small gray glasses that looked similar to Professor McGonagall's leading the Ministry official's to the trees. He recognized the older man to be the father of the Hufflepuff seeker. Diggory was his last name if he recalled it correctly. Draco also noticed Hermione was standing by his side, watching the adults walk towards the overgrowth.

Crouch didn't move too far away from the teens, cautious not to give any of them the chance to run, until he heard Diggory shouting that he found someone. "Yes! We got them! There's someone here - Unconscious! Oh, blimey..."

"You've got someone?" Crouch took a half step closer to the trees himself, sounding highly disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?"

When Diggory reemerged from the trees. He was carrying a limp figure that looked to be the size of a child, except its body was too scrawny and its head too large. As he neared Barty Crouch - who had become deathly quiet - Draco saw it was a house elf.

"That's Winky." Harry sounded as confused as they all looked.

Diggory set the unconscious elf at Crouch's feet. "This - cannot - be," Crouch said jerkily. "No -"

Faster than Hermione had ever seen the old man move before, Crouch walked around Diggory and strode off to where Winky had been found.

Hermione broke Harry's hold on her before he could reel her back in to stand by Draco's side in the even Crouch targeted him again. "That elf - she belongs to Mr. Crouch?" Hermione's voice sounded so tired, Draco doubted anyone else heard her.

Draco listened to Crouch stomping around the broken branches as he moved the bushes around, looking for anyone else who may have been stunned. "I think so."

"Bit embarrassing," Diggory said grimly to Arthur Weasley. "Barty Crouch's house elf..."

"Serves him right for being a terrible slave owner." Hermione muttered under her breath.

Draco looked at Hermione in disbelief. At first she thought she might have been joking, but when she didn't look up at him to confirm that she said it for him to hear, he thought his eyes would pop out. "You know, _we_ have a house elf, right?"

Now she looked back at him, and he wasn't sure if Hermione was back to being sane or not yet. "Not for long-"

"Come off it, Amos!" Mr. Weasley's exclamation caused both of them to forget about their own conversation as they were both wanting to know how the new evidence of the night would play out. "You don't think it was the elf? The Dark Mark is a wizard's sign. It requires a wand!"

"Yeah," Diggory dug into his jacket's breast pocket and withdrew the one that Winky had in her hand when he found her. "And she _had_ a wand."

"Hey - that's mine!"

Everyone in the clearing hushed and looked at Harry.

"Excuse me?" Said Diggory, his head turned to the side in disbelief.

"That's my wand!" He repeated. "I dropped it!"

"You dropped it?" Diggory rounded on Harry and Hermione took a sharp intake of breath. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

Before Hermione could march over to them, Arthur, very angrily, intervened. "Amos, think about who you are talking to! Is _Harry Potter_ likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

"Er - of course not. Sorry... Carried away..." Diggory mumbled. When Crouch had rejoined them, this time looking pale and stiff under the wand light around them, Diggory cleared his throat. "Had this in her hand, so that's an automatic violation of Clause three of the Code of Wand Use, for a start: _No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand._" Crouch was staring down at his house elf with so much disgust now, he looked as if he would throttle her in front of them all. "If it's all right with you Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear what the house elf has to say for itself."

"Amos, you are a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, correct?" The question was curt and when Diggory opened his mouth to confirm this, Crouch continued as he was already knowledgeable of the fact. "I am fully aware that, in the ordinary course of events, you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I ask you, however, to allow me to deal with it."

Draco wasn't sure if Hermione had bristled at the elf being called 'it' or if she was nervous about what was going to happen next. Regardless though, she started to speak. Her voice was bordering hoarse and she still sounded on the verge of tears, but she make sure she spoke loud enough for Crouch to hear her argument. "The voice we heard was a grown man's voice. Even male house elves wouldn't have been able to reach the pitch the wizard had. She's innocent."

Crouch's eye twitched as he looked up at Hermione. "Is there something you know, Miss Granger?" Crouch quickly looked between her and Draco, almost as if he was going to infer she was covering for him.

"Quit trying to twist our words around!" Ron glanced between Crouch and Diggory. "First you accuse Harry of casting that- that thing!" Ron jerked his chin towards the green mark still hanging above them like an abandoned noose in the sky. "Now you accuse Hermione of being in on something that was created to hunt people like her?" Crouch looked at Hermione then, almost as if seeing her for the first time.

"Ron, _stop_." Ginny quietly pleaded, still standing at their father's side. Hermione knew if he said one stupid thing, it was going to come down on Arthur.

"All I'm saying is if they're going to interrogate Winky, they -"

"THEY'RE HERE!" Narcissa Malfoy had ran so fast that by the time Hermione and Draco turned around, they had been pulled into her embrace. "I've been worried SICK!" She pulled away and grabbed Draco by his face. Hermione's heart seemed to break when she saw Narcissa's face. _No parent should ever have to worry like that._ "Are you harmed?"

Draco's cheeks were slightly pushed together but he still managed a muffled 'no.'

Narcissa then grabbed Hermione's face, and Hermione instantly waves of magic pouring out of the older woman's palms. "And you? Why have you been crying?"

Hermione was too shocked to move away from Narcissa. "I'm fine, Ma'am-."

"What is this I hear about interrogating? I do hope it wasn't the children who did _not_ have their parents present?" Lucius Malfoy had just joined them, as Lucius Malfoy did _not_ run in front of anyone. He had one hand pressed against his stomach while the other came to rest protectively on Draco's shoulder. Hermione heard Diggory clear his throat behind her and Lucius' drawling voice was soon accompanied by a not-so-friendly smile. "Ah, of course. I know how your lot works when it's convenient for you."

"We're just doing our jobs-" The witch from earlier piped up again, but Lucius was _not_ tolerating it.

"No, you were trying to close a case before it had barely been opened. It's what the Ministry does best, isn't it?" Hermione thought it was beyond her how Lucius could exude so much confidence in a simple bathrobe and satin pajama pants. "Now if you'll excuse us, my family and I will be going-"

"Not so fast! We haven't even interrogated the house elf yet. Their stories need to line up-"

"I fail to see how that is my problem, Diggory." Lucius firmly pushed Draco to stand behind him.

"We still have to ask them more questions-" Crouch started.

"_More_ questions? So you admit you were illegally holding my son and daughter for questioning?" Lucius didn't mean for the title to slip, but he wouldn't correct himself as disbelief appeared on the adult's faces.

Hermione cleared her throat to dismiss her own surprise. "Only after they accused Draco and I of behind involved-"

"_INVOLVED? INVOLVED?_" Narcissa crushed Hermione to her body before moving the teen behind her to stand with Draco, completely cutting Hermione off. "Listen to me, Bartemius Crouch, _Senior_. Just because _YOUR_ son was involved with Voldemort-"

"_What did you just say to me?_" Crouch started toward her, starting to raise his wand, but Narcissa was _much_ faster.

Narcissa crossed the small distance before he had taken two full steps, Crouch's own wand raised right at his nose while Narcissa kept her wand aimed at him by the hand she laid across her chest. "I won't hesitate. Give me a reason, bastard, _I dare you._ You and your aurors are all crooked and I have no qualms about making an example out of you first."

Hermione's hands flew to her face again, scared of what would happen to her guardian, but not before she had the thought that Narcissa was nearly everything she wanted to be once she was an adult.

When the rest of the Ministry officials raised their wands in Crouch's defense, Lucius walked forward with his hands raised to show that he meant no harm. When he had reached his wife, he plucked Crouch's wand from Narcissa's pale hand before holding it out to its owner. Slowly, Narcissa relaxed her stance and took a step back, allowing the other officials to follow suite. Draco walked up to his mother and wrapped an arm around her, half for her comfort and half to protect her in the event anyone tried to attack her.

"As you can see, my wife is clearly fatigued after being pushed to her emotional limits tonight. She's been frantically searching through the woods, looking for our family so we can return to our home." Lucius gently brushed a dead leaf off of her shoulder for emphasis while making sure crouch never left his peripheral vision. "If you need any help finding my residence when you send the aurors to my home to _properly_ question my family, Mr. Weasley is all too familiar with where I live and should be available for any further assistance."

Crouch's mustache twitched even more furiously. "You can't keep getting out of things, Lucius."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean. I have only ever followed the law Mr. Crouch." Lucius leaned forward so no one else could over hear him. "Even when you were cross-examining my wife and I fourteen years ago in that mold filled courtroom." Lucius stood up straight and took a step back without turning around, making sure no one was going to hex him. "Crewe!" With a loud pop the Malfoy's sole house elf appeared. His large eyes seemed to turn into the size of side dishes when he saw a lifeless house elf on the floor. "Take us to the manor." Crewe didn't dare ask about Winky as he placed a hand on Narcissa and Lucius. Hermione thought traveling through elf apparation was the second worst way to travel as a wizard, but her only hesitation when she joined Lucius' side was not being able to say good-bye to her friends again.

Not a moment later, Draco found himself being crushed by his mother again, this time with both her arms around him, as she kept a hand on the back of his head. It was more physical affection than he thought he ever had in his life from her and it made him uncomfortable when she only gripped him tighter when he attempted to squirm away. "Mother-"

"_Shut up, Draco_. Shut up and just let me hold you." She stayed like that for a few more seconds before grabbing Hermione by the collar and pulling her in. "I was so scared." Neither Hermione or Draco wanted to hear Narcissa's voice crack, but they did. Neither of them moved, even when Lucius excused himself to get tea.

They didn't move when Narcissa's regal air finally shattered around them with the first sob she let out.

And Hermione especially had not moved when Narcissa's back became drenched with her tears. It was one thing Hermione had always found peculiar about fairies from the Unseelie Court:

They never cried from their eyes, but from their wings.


	39. Charades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T/W: There is a trigger in this chapter that is a bit of a giveaway to something that happens so I decided to put it in the BOTTOM of the chapter. Please read it before proceeding if you may be sensitive to it (It is one that was mentioned on chapter one so it is not a surprise, but it is not a trigger that I have written yet.)
> 
> A/N: The 15th of September marked one year I had started posting TGwwO! In that time I had written over 310,00 words, and gained hundreds fof followers between here and A03. I am flabbergasted that not only was I able to find my love for writing again though fanfiction, but that other people enjoyed my vision. I don't say this enough, but thank you so much for reading.
> 
> A/N: Next update will be 10/04/20

When Rita Skeeter published the sordid article about Fudge being removed from office, she assumed she would be done seeing the drabby gray walls inside the Minister of Magic's office. She never expected to be back, especially not by _invitation_ from the new Minister, nonetheless.

Griselda Marchbanks had only ever worked at the Ministry. She was a respected Wizgamont Elder and before that, she was one of the first witches to ever become an auror. When she took a heavy spell that maimed her magical core for some period of time, she was moved to serve on the Wizagamont part time while she also became Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority that ran the O.W.L., N.E.W.T. and W.O.M.B.A.T. Examinations. Rita Skeeter knew all of this meant that the woman was not just intelligent, but deadly.

Rita's only real concern was the intelligence part. She didn't know why she summoned to the redecorated, yet still depressing office, but there she was, sitting across from the older woman while she wondered if Griselda had the thought to scourgify the desk before setting her things on it. The universe only knew how many witches had been bent over it.

"Do you know what tradition I love about wizards?" It was the first time either of them had spoke after tea was served and pleasantries were exchanged.

"Mmhm?" Rite kept her pinky finger stuck out as she sipped on the Barren Wort and Mint tea mix. It was a verdant combination that made her stomach want to seize, but she played the part indifference well. "What is it?"

"Journals." Griselda's beady eyes flicked up to Rita's green ones. "Wizards always feel the need to write everything down and it can be so..." One hand dropped out of view to pull something out of a drawer. Rita's lip twitched as she fought the urge to purse her lips once Griselda's hand reappeared clutching a lime green, velvet journal. The same one she gifted Fudge last year. Rita knew Fudge had used it - she had the twin journal after all so she could see everything he wrote - however he only used it to document his _encounters._ Including the ones he had with her, his wife, and anyone else he got his hands on. "Incriminating. As a journalist, I'm sure you can agree?"

Rita swore she saw her career flash before her eyes as her lips finally gave in and puckered. She would be discredited if a scandal broke out that she had been sleeping around for her stories. Her title as an Editor would be stripped before she could say _Flatplan_ and she'd be fired as her boss, Harold, had already stated that she was only allowed to write what she wanted _if_ she had continued to be his mistress and his mistress _only_. Obviously she was not holding up his end of the bargain. Rita knew she would never find another job writing again.

Suddenly, she didn't find herself as thirsty anymore. "They can be, yes."

The Minister chuckled and set the journal back in her drawer. "Relax, I don't mean anything by it."

_Why is that always the lie politicians go for first?_ "What would you like from me?"

Griselda's head tilted upwards in understanding: This wasn't Rita's first rodeo. The older woman stood from her seat and sat in the other guest seat that was parallel to Rita's. She turned in the chair to face Rita with bright eyes. Rita could see that there was one eye that looked cloudy around the ring of Griselda's eye, another sign that the witch was older than her sharp tact and great wit allowed others to believe. "I am only the second witch to ever become Britain's Minister of Magic. It is a bit of a disappointment not to become the first, but the concept is so new, I can still work with it. Not too many are willing to admit that maybe this could be a Witch's world, too."

Rita stifled a sigh. _Of course_. T_his was always their first requirement._ "So you want me to write you in a positive light."

Griselda nodded her head to the side, as if that wasn't where she was heading in her speech. "Well, I expect that to be a given. I know you have looked in to my background - I am no Fudge and I _will_ be respected." Alarm bells were going off in Rita's head as she gave the Minister a cautious once over. "Let's just say... We have a valuable citizen on our hands who wants a certain... _little girl._ One who should be locked up in St. Mungo's over a year ago now."

The blonde woman could hardly hear what she was hearing and put her tea cup on the Minister's desk as if it would make her hear the Minister better. "Are you talking about Hermione Granger? The public loves her -"

"And whose fault is that?" Griselda placed a hand on her cheek. "I'm only asking for you to undo what you had done and make wizards start to question her sanity. I'll handle the rest." Griselda placed a hand on Rita's arm and squeezed, as if she was reassuring a small child. "It'll be fun, don't you think? Wizards practically get off on wallowing in self gratification, but what if we could _actually_ be great? Change the wizarding world for the better, you and I?"

Rita looked down at her hands - hands that were as spotted and aged as Griselda's under the glamour she had. _The quill can only be mightier than the sword, if you don't constantly have the blade held to your neck._

"It would be my pleasure, Minister."

* * *

Narcissa sat on the stone bench at the end of the garden, looking at the yellow roses and the rock that had been turned into a headstone. Her gardening tools and seeds were laid by her feet. _I didn't plant those... What was I going to do here again? Oh yes, I wanted to expand the garden -_

"Look at me." Narcissa blinked and half turned her body to face Andromeda. Narcissa frowned. "It's Sunday, Ann. If you were going to stop by you should have owled. _The garden, I want to get back to my garden._

"Is that what you have to say to me?" Andromeda had her hands on her hips and her lips were pressed into a thin white line. Narcissa turned around fully, allowing her sister to pull her from her thoughts of the flowers. Narcissa felt herself frowning. _Why is she mad at me?_ "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

Narcissa slowly felt herself become grounded by mild panic - something she didn't allow herself to feel often, but it was better than the abstract thought pattern she had been fighting for the last day and a half. She had not been feeling well since they had gotten home after the Quidditch Cup and the disconcerted thoughts only worsened when she received Andromeda's owl on Saturday, explaining the Ministry was asking nearly all of their employees to help comb the fields, thus making her unable to see Hermione. She hoped that Andromeda would not come by the Earth she had used her fae magic on, but it was obvious now that Narcissa was not so lucky. "What are you talking about?"

Andromeda let out a sigh through bare teeth. Her face was red and Narcissa realized it had been over a decade since she had seen her sister this upset. "You are selfish, manipulative, and a _liar_, but you are NOT naïve. You know what I am talking about and I am BEYOND livid to know that _you_ and that _son of a bitch_ you call a husband was out there on Friday! _You_ told me that you weren't involved when you rekindled our relationship thirteen years ago! Come to find out that while you have no mark, you continue to serve Voldemort to this day! Did you even know that those children lost a muggle father because of you?!"

Narcissa took a moment before answering to prepare herself for the onslaught her sister had in store for her. She wanted to deny it, but Andromeda was right, she wasn't naïve and she should not pretend that she was. "It's impossible for that muggle to be dead, you know the spell I cast-"

"His mind though? Did you stop to think about that? He already had his memories altered all day by the Ministry, but erasing the attack was his breaking point. _I _had to do the memory charm on him and _it was too much_. Now he's either going to be a burden on his family or he's going to have to be put in a hospital 'till his body can take no more." Narcissa closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose. The small act was a mistake. Every time she closed her eyes she just saw the two children, floating unconscious in the air. For the past two nights she dreamt of the same scene, but with Draco and Hermione in their place. When Andromeda spoke again, she was no longer yelling and her voice wavered in the begging tone she forced out. "You told me you weren't involved, Narcissa. You let me search you and -"

"You want to know why there is no mark on me, Andromeda?" Her sister's pleading was too much. Narcissa stood and walked towards her older sister as she talked. "We can't be marked. Just as Bellatrix can't take heat to her hair to straighten it, nor can we touch anything that has even a particle of iron. Our bodies will reject it." Narcissa could feel her emotions overwhelming her just as it had at the World Cup. She knew her reactions following the world cup were so unlike her, but for some reason she could not find herself to be stable enough to push the anxiety back down. Narcissa was extremely aware she was about to crack under the stress she usually held within her until she could tend to her garden or cook, but deep down, she was relieved to finally come clean to Andromeda.  
Each of the three Black sisters had a unique fae gift. With Narcissa's allowing her to form pacts to her interpretation, every lie she told in turn felt like a weight on her body. The Fae saw lies as speaking evil and Narcissa's gift was to ensure she would always get the truth she sought, which meant she was also supposed to give the truth, even if it was convoluted. "When the Dark Lord learned from Bellatrix that I could make contracts that could go as deep as someone's magical core, he made me mark them all with that horrid image of a Basilisk sliding out of Salazar Slytherin's skull. Me and me alone."

Andromeda, who had just been red with rage could feel her face cool as the blood started to drain. "His mark was not just a mark then."

Narcissa's pale face warped with a silent sob of regret. "It was to bind them all to him. A death wish - an Albatross of sorts after he was gone. One that Lucius is still afraid of." Narcissa searched her sister's blue eyes. She couldn't tell her sister about the damage Abraxas Malfoy left on his son, that wasn't her secret to tell, but Narcissa was more than aware that Lucius was motivated by few things. One was fear, another was fear for his family. "Imagine what would have happened to us if we had refused the rest of the Death Eaters. Hermione would be -"

"Is he still alive, Narcissa?" Andromeda was frozen in place. She wanted to grab Narcissa by the shoulders and shake her, but she couldn't. She hated that her response to the intense fear was to freeze, but as a healer, she knew it was just how her brain was wired. "Tell me, Narcissa. Is he still alive?"

Narcissa couldn't manage more than a soft whisper, now turning into the one who may have needed to beg her sister to understand. "I don't know."

"Nymphadora was out there, Narcissa." The last time they had a similar conversation, Narcissa had succeeded at dancing around her words so Andromeda's gift would not be triggered. Andromeda had the ability of detecting a lie when she heard it, as the Fae did not want her to hear evil. It was useful in her field, especially after studying the human psyche. When Andromeda's ears did not burn at her sister's admission, proving that Narcissa was telling her the truth, she still felt her rage explode inside of her, granting her the ability to move again. "Do you know what would have happened if any one of your lot had hurt her? Do you know what _I_ would have done?" Narcissa was hoping that her sister would not react to coldly to the truth, but she couldn't say she did not understood why. "When she announced that she wanted to become an auror I cried for three days straight, I was so scared - the same three days you were present for and reassured me she would not have to face the horrors we just had. Saturday was one of her first times out on the field and she had to face _Death Eaters_? We were supposed to be done with this."

Narcissa reached a hand out to her sister, only for it to be slapped away. She laced her fingers in front of her. Narcissa knew her sister's temper and she was aware she had reached a point of no return with her sister. The truth was often more damaging than a lie was. "You know I am telling you the truth, no one was supposed to get hurt - "

"No." Narcissa felt despair pull her eyebrows together as Andromeda physically morphed back into her alias of Dr. Augsen. When she took a step forward, the Ministry appointed therapist took a step back. "I am only here for Hermione from now on. You will refer to me by my title-"

"Ann-"

Dr. Augsen spoke over her. "As her healer and nothing else, for you are no sister of mine."

"Please listen to me -"

"Anything said after this conversation that leads me to believe there are dark, illegal, or activities leading to _treason_ are taking place in your residence, will be reported to the Ministry at once." Narcissa quickly turned her back on Dr. Augsen and held one hand to her forehead, not being able to face the words being said anymore. "Good day, Mrs. Malfoy."

Narcissa listened to her sister's retreating footsteps until the crunching of the soft grass could no longer be heard. Andromeda walking out on her hurt more than it had when their parents cut her out of the family at the announcement of Andromeda's engagement to her half-blood husband and it hurt more than it had when Bellatrix was sent to serve a life sentence in Azkaban. Narcissa pondered why the pain was so great as she returned to the stone bench and sat with her back to the roses. Maybe it was because no one was forcing her sisters to leave her this time or maybe it was because she knew she was solely responsible this time. She thought the pain was worse because of both reasons, not to mention she knew her sister was the type of person to not go back on what she said. Andromeda learned that from their parents.

Narcissa stayed like that for hours, crying into the earth. When she picked up her head to look at the flowers, she noticed the roses had grown into two large rose bushes. _Consider it a gift from one parent to another._ She meant to laugh at her unspoken joke, but it only made her hiccup as the titter ended up being caught in her throat. She shook the wings that had emerged with her emotions over the bushes so they could get as much of her tears as she could. Narcissa learned that once she started at Hogwarts that being half fae had it's many perks. Her tears were a catalyst for plant growth, which always helped in Herbology, while her nose was sharp enough to pick up on what plants were needed in potions - a trait she was sure Draco had, no doubt.

When her wings melded back into her skin, she sighed. Her eyes settled back on the rose bushes that had been planted, but she no longer felt like they were an outlandish addition. Narcissa never planned to uproot them at all, but the fact that she had not planted them had made her controlling side flair up and lock her in place where Andromeda had found her. _I've spent enough time being in my head. Nothing good will come of being like this. _Narcissa thought back to Andromeda walking out, but she shoved the pain of the memory away. _I should find Lucius before I visit Hermione. She's been in a state, too, and I need to make sure she is all right to return to Hogwarts. _Narcissa did not know when she developed the trait of needing to govern everything around her, but it was not something she fought often. Narcissa got to her feet before she banished her gardening utensils back to the greenhouses.

As she walked back to the manor with her chin held high and her shoulders back, she allowed herself to think about her actions at the World Cup. Fairies were temperamental creatures; they did not like being hoodwinked, have their territory breached, nor did they tolerate any disrespect. It fazed Narcissa that she gave into the stress of these things at the Quidditch Cup, but her only regret was letting Draco and Hermione see her like that. _I need to practice more self-control. I shouldn't teach the children to react to their fears with violence - especially with an official. _She thought of Andromeda pleading with her, begging Narcissa to deny that she had not been a Death Eater. _That's not who I am any more._

With that thought, It may have taken her a day and a half to recuperate from what she would have labeled as a meltdown, but the Malfoy Mistress was back to being an imposing fortress again.

A fortress that guarded a bleeding heart for a family that had been partially torn again.

* * *

Draco sent another textbook flying through the air to slam into the far bedroom wall. He reached for what would have been book number nine to send soaring after book number seven, but he only touched the cold wood of his desk. "Ugh!" He was now left with the choice of picking up the eight books he had already abused or throw his third year Care of Magical Creatures book - something he was not likely to repeat again as the last time he had treated it with blatant disregard, it chased him halfway though the East wing of the manor.

Harry Potter had a way of getting his hands into _everything_ and it drove him mad. _Who does he think he is? Sending me a letter in regards to Hermione's care all because she chooses not to reply to him! Good for her if she doesn't want to converse with the twat!_ Draco started to pick up the books he had thrown across the room, slamming them on top of each other, not caring what he was doing to the pages within the book covers.

At least, he tried not to care. His anger gave way to his guilt as he put the last book on top of the stack, knowing Hermione would be loosing her mind over the damage he was causing the tomes. He decided to plop himself on his bum to take his time fixing the pages, mulling over Potter's letter.

_Malfoy,_

_I think you and I both know what Hermione did after the Quidditch Cup was not normal. She hasn't replied to my owl this whole week._

_It's obvious you two are friends. I just want to know she's all right._

_\- Potter._

_Am I a friend though? Do friends neglect to tell the other the truth about something as big as Death Eaters storming such a large event when they had experienced something so horrid last year?_ Draco ran his fingers through his hair before shaking it back into place. _She would hate me._ Draco thought about how he had nearly kissed her before the Death Eaters blew up a tent next to them. Even his strong feelings for her had been suffocated by guilt, just like a vine would cause a shrub to wither beneath its hold. _Hermione is a good person. She doesn't need someone like me._ It hurt to tell himself this when he truly wanted her to need him.

Draco stood up and wiped the stray, frustrated tear away from his face and clenched his jaw. Simultaneously, Crewe apparated into his room holding two plates of food for lunch. One plate was really for Hermione, but Crewe had refused to bring her any more meals until '_the misses felt better_' as Hermione apparently started to throw clothes at him last time he had seen him. It terrified the house elf that he had become so close to being freed. Lucius usually wouldn't of had been so gracious in letting his house elf refuse an order, but after loosing Dobby, Lucius barely batted an eyelash before asking Draco to bring Hermione her morning and mid-day meals since Narcissa was having dinner again in Hermione's room in an attempt to coax her downstairs.

When Draco was outside of Hermione's bedroom door, he balanced her food on top of the glass of pumpkin juice so he could knock with his free hand. He let himself in shortly after when there was no response. She often pretended to sleep, or she was actually sleeping when he stopped by, but today, he walked in to find her crying. Hermione wasn't facing the door so all he could see was her back, which was shaking with every blubbering sound she made. _This is all my fault. She's like this again because I didn't tell her. _His hands curled into fits as the hate within himself doubled. There was a vial of a yellow potion his mother had left her, an indicator she was having trouble eating again. _I need to fix this._

"Hermione."

She coughed from trying to stop her crying mid whine. She didn't turn around. "Mmm?"

"Hermione, come eat with me."

"Why should I? I'm not hungry." It was odd to hear her sound like that. In second year, he would have called her pitiful. Now her defeated voice just made his heart ache for her. "I want to be alone."

"Mother left your potion here. You know it makes you hungry." He tapped the vial twice on her desk, but she did not turn around to the sound of the glass knocking into the wood. He narrowed his eyes at her back when her only response was to wipe her nose. He looked at the potion in his hands, then her pumpkin juice. She was going to have his head if his idea worked, but she hadn't left her room for a week and he wasn't going to allow the behavior to go on any longer without making a genuine effort.

Putting the stopper between the front of his teeth, he gently wiggled it till it was loose enough for him to remove it without making an audible _pop_ when released. "Fine. I won't force you to eat, but I will ask you to at least drink your pumpkin juice while I eat your serving." He poured the potion into the juice as he held his breath, hoping the color of the juice wouldn't turn. He swirled the mixture by using the technique his father did with wine. Draco was relieved when the color had not changed.

Draco could tell Hermione was trying not to give in to his request, but after a moment she slowly rolled over. She looked as if she would stay there, her eyes somewhat blank so he offered her a hand to help her sit up. When she took it and he didn't miss how cold her fingers were. He offered her the juice, which she took without hesitation, already giving up the fight. Anticipation had him wanting to bounce on the heels of his shoes, but he relaxed when she took a large gulp of the sweet elixir.

"That's it. Grape?" After placing one in his mouth, he offered her a green one from the mixed fruit cup on her plate after he sat down in the desk chair across from her. She shook her head before taking another drink.

Hermione smacked her lips that were puffy from her crying. "Is this a new flavour? I feel like there is a bit of lemon in it this time."

"I doubt it." Draco answered coolly. She made to set the cup down on her desk, but he touched the bottom of the cup, completely catching her off guard, and gently lifted it so she had to continue drinking. "Ah, ah, ah." Hermione had to lean back not to spill anything, but before long, he took his hand away. Draco felt some satisfaction seeing she had drank half of the mixture, meaning that it wouldn't be long before she would start to get hungry. He popped another grape in his mouth, even though she was now glaring at him. Draco looked out of her window and his eye caught the stack of unopened letters that were pushed neatly into a corner. Reading upside down he could see the address of 'Privet Drive' printed on it.

"You're not going to ask me how I'm doing? Did you come here just to loiter and force sugary drinks down my throat?"

Draco pushed away all thoughts of the letter he received from Harry and shrugged a single shoulder. "You look like shit, so you must feel like shit. It's been a week and I think I gave you enough space."

Hermione shook her head at him in exasperation and laid back down. She didn't roll over and instead stared up at the top of her four-poster bed. Several minutes passed before she looked over at him, one corner of her lips pulled upwards. "So you admit it: You are loitering."

Draco made a show of rolling his eyes. "Malfoys don't loiter."

He smiled when she attempted to laugh at her own joke after throwing her hands palm up as if to say _my mistake._ The act wasn't much, he knew that, but _Merlin_ was he worried about her. "How are you, then? I, ah, missed you at dinner." Draco shoved another grape in his mouth as he looked down at the soft carpet on the hard wood floor.

Hermione looked at him then, her brown eyes seeming to look a little more _there_ than not. "I missed having dinner with everyone too. I... I just couldn't leave. I couldn't face anyone. When I knew Narcissa was coming with dinner, I tried taking my dreamless draught early so I didn't need to face her. That only worked twice though." Hermione was grateful for Draco visiting her. He was a friend - a distraction. A heart racing, beautiful, part fairy distraction she could be honest with. The handful of days she was awake for dinner with Narcissa had been primarily quiet. Narcissa tried to get Hermione to come downstairs, or to talk, but already, she had said more words to Draco than she had to the Malfoy Matron - not to mention she was starting to get hungry. Something that hadn't happened to her since the Quidditch World Cup.

Since her flashback in the woods by the Quidditch stadium to be more precise.

"Can you pass me that fruit over there?" She held a hand out to Draco as he grabbed several grapes. Her stomach growled and she knew it would not be enough. "Can you pass me the whole cup? You can have the rest of the food there, I just want something light."

Draco suppressed a grin, knowing the Black potion was finally kicking in. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"No, I should be alright with this." Hermione sat up again once the miniature ceramic bowl was in her hands. _This is good. This is improvement._ When Dr. Augsen came to visit her on Monday to make up for the missed Saturday appointment, she only listened and refused to answer Dr. Augsen's questions. After thirty or so minutes, her therapist left, but not without telling Hermione that she _had_ been doing well and was sorry to see her like this.

"Draco, what's today?"

"Friday."

_It really has been a whole week - What?_ Hermione's fingers had hit the bottom of the cup. Her appetite had more than just started up again, but had completely returned to her. Hermione frowned into the empty dish before looking at the plate of food that Draco had come in with. It was completely untouched, as Draco had sat there, head resting on his fist as he watched her. Seeing her glance over to her lunch, he grabbed the plate before holding it out to her as he knew what she wanted.

Hermione greedily took the plate from his hands. Lamb that was adorned with olives, feta, and paired with a side of fondant potato greeted her on the warmed plate. Hermione stabbed her fork into the potato and twisted to rip off a piece of it. Her eyes closed and she kicked her feet in delight at the savory food.

"Going to take your lunch to the Yule Ball, I reckon?"

She swallowed and took a sip of her Pumpkin juice to rinse any bits of potato in her mouth. She started to feel like she was starving, but that didn't mean that she was going to start talking with food in her mouth like Ron did when he couldn't decide if swallowing or being a part of the conversation around him was more important. "Oh, shut up. Is the Yule Ball something..." Hermione's voice trailed off as her hunger seemed to hit an all too familiar peak. Her eyes darted over where Narcissa had left the potion.

Draco was carefully arranging the letters on her desk into a pyramid like he sometimes saw his house mates do in the Slytherin Common room with Exploding Snap cards, so he didn't see the anger that clouded her face. "Did mother not talk to you about?" Draco assumed Hermione had gotten the same, humiliating talk that Lucius had given him. He focused even more at the task he was working on to avoid her seeing the blush on his face. "We're not supposed to know, but the Triwizard Tournament-"

"Did you put the potion in my drink?"

The envelopes collapsed beneath his hand as he was putting the fifth and sixth letter on top of the three he had already arranged. _Damn it._ He set the letters down and looked at her, anticipating her wanting to hit him again, but instead he found her furiously chewing on a piece of lamb instead. He opened his mouth unsure of what to say before he decided that nothing good would come out of a lie. "Yes."

Hermione didn't know what to say after receiving his honesty. She would have at least expected Ron to lie to her. "So drugging people is just a Slytherin thing then, is that it?" She furiously cut the rest of her lamb into pieces. He stayed quiet, but she refused to look up, deciding to cut up the rest of her potato into bite sized pieces after she was done with the meat. Hermione only looked up from her plate when she heard the bedroom door close. She was once again alone in her room.

If she hadn't drunk the potion, her hunger would have been replaced for the feeling of her throat closing up and dropping like a stone into her abdomen. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she wanted to put her food down to chase after him to tell him _he_ had no right to be mad at her when _he _was the one who gave her something she didn't want to drink in the first place. Instead she just continued eating so she at least wouldn't have to deal with the discomfort of hunger before she went to chew him out.

Hermione never got the chance to though as he came back into her room with his own plate food in his hands. Draco didn't look up at her as he started to cut up his serving of lamb. He was back to being irate, but he knew he was wrong. He didn't want to acknowledge the fact, but he did. Draco felt everything he had touched either got bad or became worse when it came to Hermione. "I'm. Sorry." Draco coughed before taking a long drink from his serving of Pumpkin juice. He could count on one hand how many times he uttered those words. Even with him only being a quarter fae, he felt as if a hot rod had been shoved down his throat. "I can make it up to you. There's something I've been wanting to show you for a while now."

"It hurts for you to say that, doesn't it?" Draco looked at Hermione at that to see she now wore a look of sympathy. Unless she knew about his heritage before the Quidditch World Cup, which he doubted, she knew because of Narcissa's crying when they had returned home. Lucius had cast a drying charm on Narcissa's back and served everyone tea when he returned to the room to break them up, but it was too late. Hermione had already taken notice of the salt water coming from Narcissa. "To literally say the words '_I'm sorry_', I mean."

"It... Does." She gave a quick nod and he could literally see her filing away the confirmation of her suspicions of Draco and Narcissa. "It can also cause discomfort to hear it."

"I see." They ate in silence. Draco expected to be hit with rapid fire questions, but instead, Hermione put her nose in the air and looked at him with a steady gaze. "Then at your willingness to put yourself in pain to apologize to me for something that was downright despicable, I will accept your apology. And whatever you want to show me to make up for it." He laughed and she managed a small smile. He was infuriating, but Hermione was aware she needed him just as much as she needed Ron and Harry. "But don't put yourself in pain again for me. They're just words and I do in fact agree that they can be very dismissive. It took me a while to realize that."

_She's so brilliant and... _Good. _I wonder if she would still forgive me if she found out I wasn't _only _apologizing for the potion. _Draco forced himself to look down at his food when he caught his eyes lingering on her for more than was socially acceptable. "I can live with that, wouldn't want you to get used to it anyway."

* * *

For once, Hermione didn't mind that she was crying in front of Draco. The yellow rose bushes that surrounded the makeshift tombstone he had written on in memory of her parents meant more to her than their actual graves. _This _is how she would have remembered her parents if they were allowed to be cremated. Draco sat one end of the stone bench in a small attempt at feigning privacy. He didn't need to hear that she loved what he had done, he already knew that she did.

"Draco, this is everything to me." She finally said as she sniffled and dragged her arm against her nose to wipe off the snot that was falling with her nose. Draco tossed a handkerchief into her lap and she thanked him with a watery smile. After blowing her nose into it, she looked around the rose bushes to see if she could find the rest of the flowers from the bouquet. "Were you only able to save the roses?" Her voice was still choked up as she wiped at the tears leaking from her eyes.

"Yes." His reply was simple and Hermione didn't ask him to elaborate. "I suppose mum had found the roses I planted though. They weren't nearly this big the last time I was here." Draco scooted across the bench so he was that much more closer to Hermione, who had opted to kneel on the grass when he surprised her with the memorial.

Hermione's heart was full of so many emotions. It felt heavy as she allowed herself to mourn her parents, especially after such an elaborate flashback, but at the same time, it felt as if it was soaring. _He's so kind and caring. How were we ever enemies before? _They sat there in silence, Draco wondering what was on Hermione's mind, while Hermione was thinking about Draco. _He only ever tries to take care of me... Was he really going to kiss me? No- He doesn't see me that way. I'm sure of it. _Swallowing what she saw as the truth, she pressed a thumb to the inside petal of a half bloomed rose, enjoying the smooth texture of the petal. _So Narcissa found the roses..._

"What are you thinking?"

"What is it like being a fairy?" Hermione whispered the question even though they were the only two in the outer gardens.

Draco couldn't stop the smooth pull of his lips from being caught off guard with her question. As his mouth automatically settled into a smirk, he licked his lips before giving a small laugh. "And here I thought you would be mad enough that I wasn't going to be bombarded with questions today." After they finished eating and Draco announced that they needed to go to the gardens to see what he had reserved for her, Hermione practically fought him tooth and nail on the notion. He said a bath and sunlight would make her feel better, but she disagreed, arguing she would rather stay inside all day. Hermione had no intention of giving in until he had returned from her bathroom, where she heard a bath being drawn.

_Draco stood at the foot of her bed, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She sat with her back to the headboard, arms crossed over her chest. "Granger-"_

_"Oh, I'm _Granger _now?" Hearing him open the faucet so her tub could fill with water just annoyed her further and she resorted to mocking him._

_"I _will _pick you up and toss you into the bathtub - Night clothes and all."_

_Being stubborn as ever, Hermione just blinked at him, not believing he would. They unintentionally started a staring match and Hermione was determined not to move or blink at all. Slowly_ _though, she watched his face darken to the point that she was becoming convinced he _would _throw her into the bath. She gulped and Draco raised an eyebrow before taking a step towards the side of her bed. She put one hand down on the mattress, registering what Draco was going to do. When he lunged for her, she was just able to roll off the mattress with a squeal._

_"Okay, okay! You win!" Hermione immediately headed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. _What a brat! Always has to have his way! _She was breathing heavily, as she pressed her back against the door, but her smile wasn't forced this time. It was only then that she accepted that she should give in to his coaxing because Draco was right and she was wrong. She needed to be moving again, nothing good would come out of being idle._

"You wanted me out of my funk, and for simplicity sake, we'll say I am. That means you have to deal with my _insufferable _curiosity." Hermione looked at him and wagged a finger to punctuate Snape's favorite adjective for her. "How different are you from another wizard? Other than the Ichor?"

"I... I suppose I'm not too different." The turn in conversation had been sudden, and Draco found himself being uneasy for a multitude of reasons. One being he would have thought he would have liked the attention if he was able to tell everyone he wasn't fully human, but now that he was under Hermione's studious gaze, it settled in why it had to be kept a secret, especially at the mention of the coveted Unseelie Blood. While potions masters and apothecaries alike would kill for a steady supply of fairy dust, something only given by the Seelie court of fairies, the Unseelie court fairies had been hunted to near extinction for their blood. They were considered to be protected beings under the Ministry of Magic, but poachers didn't exactly care about not breaking the law.

Hermione didn't believe him. "That's a load of rubbish." Hermione felt a light breeze and she couldn't stop herself from inhaling. She started to catch his scent, but she exhaled as soon as she did, never taking her eyes off the leaves of the bushes that rustled in the wind. _I need to get over this crush, just like I had with Ron._ "Do you have wings, too?"

"No. I don't think I can morph like mother can."

"Morph? Is she a Metamorphagus?"

"No, although I have an aunt who is." Draco paused as he didn't think this was a conversation that he would be having with Hermione. He thought that his mother would be the one to tell her and explain how the Blacks had gotten them to this point, but now that his secret was out in the open, he was more than aware she wouldn't stop until she had answers. Draco couldn't deny his discomfort with the heavy topic, but it was much better to the alternative of her crying all day in her room, so he kept the dialogue open. "I'll start from the beginning if you want, but you'll need to let me talk uninterrupted."

"Okay." Hermione put her chin on to the end of the stone bench, eyes wide with anticipation.

Draco took his time gathering his thoughts. Hermione tapped a finger on the grass as she waited patiently, something she thought she should practice more. "When it comes to the classifications of fairies, there are two main kinds. There are those of the Seelie court - which are the ones most wizards think about when they hear the name _fairy._ They are the small, colorful, and are more inclined to be kind creatures. Fairies of the Unseelie court, however, are human sized. A full bloodied fae is unable to _completely_ blend in with a human, but someone like mother, who is only half fae, can change between the two forms."

"Then does she have any extraordinary powers? Why are the two courts so different?"

"I'll never get to tell you everything if you're going to interrupt me after I say one thing." Hermione made a face before making the motion of zipping her lips shut and locking it. "Mother, to my understanding, pretty much has full use of a fairy's power if she is in her true form, but since she is only a half-blood, she has to be in contact with whatever she wants to use that kind of magic on. I feel you may have witnessed that with Fudge?"

Hermione's sucked her bottom lip between her two teeth as she thought back to that night. "I don't think so, when Narcissa and Andromeda performed... Whatever they had on Fudge, it involved the moonlight, a potion, dirt and blood." Hermione looked over her shoulder as if Narcissa would jump out at any moment to scold her.

"Wait, did you just say Andromeda?" Draco's eyebrows pulled together as he scooted closer to Hermione. _That's impossible. She was burned off the family tree!_

"Yes, do you know her?" Hermione lifted her head and leaned closer in her excitement of possibly finding another piece to the many puzzles she had in her life.

"That's the name of my aunt but... She was disowned. There is no way she could have been here..." _Or could she have been?_ That was a question Draco thought would be better addressed at another time, and so he continued his conversation. "What you described sounded like a mix of fairy and wizard magic, so maybe mother reconnected with her." Draco's eyes searched the ground between them as he thought about how _maybe_ his mother was a muggleborn sympathizer _before_ Hermione entered his life. It didn't sound so far fetched when he realized that maybe Narcissa played the part of a blood purist to keep the search off of her own trail. _Technically speaking, we're _not _purebloods. _Draco shook his head at where his train of thoughts were headed. Muggleborns weren't horrendous like his parents always taught him they were, but that didn't mean he was going to stop thinking he was less pure than them. He and Hermione were just as valuable.

"Wait - Why was she cut out? Is she half fae, too?"

"Yes. My grandparents disowned her for marrying a half-blood." Draco didn't need to look at her face to know she was angry at that - he heard the sharp intake of breath.

"How foul! Their own daughter!" Draco chose not to respond as his gaze fell down to his shoes. Draco found it odd that while his brain still found his grandparent's reasoning understandable, although his heart completely disagreed with it. His silence came across to Hermione as him not wanting to talk about it much more so she brought the conversation back to their original topic. "Narcissa's eyes change color when she wants us to do something."

"Something like that." This was the part of his heritage where things became what gossipy witches would have called _messy_. "My mother's parents, Cygnus and Druella Black, were unable to conceive children, namely, Cygnus was unable to produce any. It would have been an embarrassment to them if the Black line had ended there and it worried them both. The Rosier family - My grandmother's surname before she married Cygnus - were known for their connections to the fae though. I don't know if it was Cygnus or Druella who contacted the King of the Unseelie Court -"

"You say _Court_ as in an actual _Kingdom_? I don't mean to interrupt but -"

"Yes, I didn't get to finish explaining that earlier." The smile he threw at her was only half-teasing, but Draco continued to talk about the lore, nonetheless. "There are many different stories on how the courts became divided, but there are some things that stay consistent in most of the teachings: There was a garden governed by two wizards. There were rules that they were to follow and one day, the female wizard broke one and she had to leave, along with her innocent mate. The garden was supposed to have everything they ever needed - food, water, shelter, everything - it was a private utopia, something they would not experience on the outside. When it came to the fairies though, there was civil unrest within the once singular court. Half of them wanted to explore and follow the wizards, while the other half wanted to stay. Thus, those who stayed deemed themselves to be a part of the Seelie court while the fairies who left, dubbed themselves as the Unseelie court once their bodies took on their new transformation - a reflection of the new world around them."

_Sounds like bullocks to me._ Hermione thought the story sounded much to similar to the story of Adam and Eve being forced out of the Garden of Eden, but she didn't mention it.

"Anyways, my grandmother Druella decided to make a pact with fairies. Not once, but three times to give her my aunt Bellatrix, my aunt Andromeda, and mother."

"What did she have to give up?"

Hermione had seen Draco portray several different emotions; cockiness, anger, giddiness, but the one she hated to see him experience almost as much as fear, was uncertainty. Draco Malfoy was a lot of things, but if he allowed you to see him uncertain, there was an issue. "I don't know."

Hermione slowly nodded. It was safe to assume that Narcissa refused to tell Draco what Druella had to pay. While the fairies had great powers to do what Wizards could only dream of, it was always documented in the texts she read from that it came with a great price.

"To further expand on your question from earlier, my aunts and mother were each given a gift. Mother has the ability to manipulate magical contracts to her needs, Andromeda is able to pick up on lies being told, and Bellatrix has the ability of sight. No invisibility cloak or disillusionment charm will work on her."

Hermione thought about each ability. Someone using a cloak or a charm could easily be found out with the right spell and _knowing_ when someone was lying could only be useful in specific scenarios. _Being able to verbally bind someone though..._ "I think your mother got the best gift, then. Can you do that, too?"

"Perhaps 'gift' isn't the best word. There are drawbacks to it. Having to lie is nearly impossible and a contract is always two-sided. Breaking your end of it has consequences."

Her reply was a murmured, "Of course."

"What I _can_ do though, is pick up on what the missing ingredients are in potions. At least when it comes to the plant portion. Sometimes creatures since the fae naturally have a basic understanding with a lot of them."

"That's interesting." Hermione's head tilted to the side a little. "Is it like a sixth sense?"

"It's all in the nose." Draco's head wrinkled as he remembered all of the charmed rosettes at the World Cup. Usually he was able to ignore the smell of dead flowers, but the world cup had been difficult with the amount of flowers the salesmen had. He _knew_ flowers did not smell like the putrid scent he associated them with, but shivered as he remembered the odor permeating his narrow nostrils. It was enough to force him to fight off a gag if he focused on it too long.

"So... When Narcissa was at the funeral, her face wasn't due to being round so many muggles?"

Draco looked at Hermione, discovering where her thoughts had ended up. "Yes. It all had to do with the flowers, she's much more sensitive than I am."

Hermione felt stupid as tears welled up in her eyes for the third time that day, but she couldn't help it. It was a small thing that only bothered her once in a blue, but first impressions were hard to shake, especially since she had her first break down shortly after laying her eyes on Narcissa. _They do care - Why do I keep trying to convince myself they don't!_ Hermione looked down at her lap, willing the tears not to fall, while she turned away from Draco. _What have I done for them but cause problems or put Narcissa into a panic? Even Lucius, _Hermione was still unsure if she heard him right, _called me... his daughter. Family. How am I supposed to show them that I care when I continue to doubt them?_

"Hermione, are you still there?" He called out to her several times, but she didn't look up. It had been a while since Hermione had zoned out in front of him and it unsettled him to see her do it now, more than it ever had before.

This time though, she slowly looked over at him, blinking away the rabbit hole she nearly fell into. She still had a far away look on her face, but her eyes were present and shining. "Have your parents ever done a game night?

* * *

"Just to make sure I have this correct," Lucius held up the parchment Hermione had placed in front of the Malfoys, on the small drawing room table. "You can't speak, but we have to somehow guess what our partners are... _pantomiming_?"

"Correct." Hermione stood with her fingers laced over her chest as she looked between the three of them. She had already debriefed Draco on the game, and together they had convinced his parents that it would be fun for them to spend time together. Narcissa was immediately taken by the idea which left Lucius unable to refuse. "Draco helped me convert some of the game rules so it's more wizard friendly; You can't use your wands or spell anything out. If the word or phrase you pull from the jar is a book, you can pretend you're reading a book so we know that's the category it's in. If it's a creature, you can flap your arms like an owl and if it's-"

"I can read." Lucius was in fact reading the parchment as she spoke, his eyes zipping from her right to left faster than she was speaking.

"Be nice." Narcissa chided. She was hesitant with the idea, but intrigued at the new activity Hermione had called _Charades_ \- Especially since it seemed like it was an event that would bring them all together.

Lucius looked up to see Hermione had her hands on her hips as she looked at him. "My apologies, continue." Lucius put the parchment down as he had finished reading, anyway.

Hermione was only a bit affronted, but she accepted the apology. "Crewe agreed to help by keeping time, so as soon as your teammate guesses the thing in question, pull another slip from the jar. There's no limit to how many points your team can get." Draco and Hermione almost ended up in another row when she insisted they _ask_ Crewe to help instead of giving him the order to help. Luckily, Draco gave in and Crewe agreed to assist. "Did you have any questions? Narcissa?"

"No. In the very least this is bound to be a good laugh." Narcissa clapped her hands together, nearly slipping into the role of hostess. "So shall we do Young vs. Old? Ladies vs. Lads?" Narcissa winked at Hermione who giggled.

"I think it'd be best if Draco and I were partners-"

Lucius pointed a finger at Hermione, a indiscernible look on his face as if he had caught her doing something he did not quite disapprove of. "He would know the game better than any of us since he's been learning from you all day - Nice try, but it'd be fair if you were paired with Narcissa."

"It'd really just put you at a disadvantage if we were on the same team, father." Draco had a twinkle in his eye the resembled the one he had when Lucius encouraged Draco to talk about Quidditch one Christmas dinner a few months ago. "You and mum practically communicate nonverbally."

Lucius narrowed his eyes at his son before breaking out into a small smile. "Touché, but Hermione ought to go first so Narcissa and I know for sure what we're getting into." More quietly he added, "And to determine if I need more wine for this."

Hermione missed the grin Draco shot her after getting a one up on his father. She had stuck her hand in the jar to pull out a single word. _Ballet_. _Easy enough._ Hermione nodded at Crewe to start the one minute timer before she raised her hands to her eyes to pretend she was holding a camera, signaling her word had to do with the arts. Hermione took a before performing two less than wobbly fouettés. On her third, Draco made his guess.

"Spinning top! Wait, Ballet!"

Hermione nodded and pulled another word out of the jar. _Mermaid._ After waving her arms, Hermione dropped to the floor and pretended to brush her hair over one shoulder. Hermione thought it would have been obvious as it was an action she saw one of the animated stained glass windows at Hogwarts do, but Draco simply stared at her. She threw her hands out in front of her before bringing them around to her sides in a motion that was supposed to make it look as if she was swimming.

"Veela?"

Hermione shook her head at the same time Crewe announced the remaining time. "Fifteen seconds." Hermione pointed at her legs out in front of her, keeping her heels together and toes apart in an attempt to make it look like a fish tail.

"Oh!" Narcissa patted Lucius on the arm several times. "I know what it is." Her excited whisper only made Draco more nervous.

"A Grindylow? Cockatrice? A Niffler- No-"

"Time is up, Young Master." Crewe looked as if he were trying to contain his excitement watching the family he served have a night of fun.

"A mermaid."

Hermione threw her head back and groaned. "Yes, but we don't get the point. Time was already called." Hermione got to her feet with an eyebrow raised. "A Grindylow? Really?"

Draco shrugged a shoulder bashfully. "It was the first thing that game to mind."

"Oh really, I couldn't tell." Hermione poked him in his side as she sat next to him. "Whose up next?"

"Lucius is." Narcissa offered before patting her husband on his back, in an almost doting fashion, but it really came off as condescending.

Lucius took it in stride, though and turned a charming smile on Narcissa in an attempt to deflect the offer. "Me? But ladies first." He waved an arm in front of him, causing Narcissa to laugh.

"As the head of house, you should lead by example." The two adults were silent for as they stared at each other, neither wanting to crack, lest they be forced to go first.

Hermione knew a big part of why they had agreed to do the game night was to amuse her and Draco after a terrible week, but Hermione was choosing to ignore the fact just like the adults were so she could enjoy the night. They were in fact, communicating in their own way and it intimidated her that they had such an intense understanding. "If they win, I'm telling all of Hogwarts that you sleep with at least three stuffies every night."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, not paying attention to his father who had just walked to the center of the room. "You wouldn't."

"You're right. I'd tell all of _Gryffindor_ who would tell the rest of Hogwarts." She gave him a look that said that she meant every word she said.

"_Ahem_." When all eyes were on him, Lucius reached into the jar and pulled out a piece of parchment. Lucius looked crossed between sulky and tired as he looked at the paper. "Go ahead, Crewe."

The elf nodded his head, his ear flopping as he did so. "Time has started, sir."

Lucius raised both of his arms and lowered them several times, obviously not comfortable with vigorously flapping them. Hermione imagined Lucius was trying to hold on to his dignity for dear life while trying to make everyone else happy with his participation. Lucius put a hand on the top of his head, fingers flexed and pointing towards the high ceiling of the drawing room as he walked around in a circle.

_A peacock? Perhaps a chicken? _Hermione tilted her head to the side. _Perhaps a mooncalve?_

"I think you need to get into character a bit more, I don't know what you're doing." Narcissa sounded completely amused by her husbands embarrassment. Lucius gave her a withering look, convinced she knew what he was doing.

"Aww, It's just us! No need to be shy." Hermione couldn't stop the grin on her face when she taunted Lucius. He huffed and Hermione stifled a giggle by biting on to the knuckle of her thumb at his childish behavior.

Lucius felt ridiculous and now his family was taunting him. _Family_. Draco was torn between making eye contact with his father to avoid making Lucius more distressed, and joining in making fun of him. Seeing his son torn again on a night he should have been enjoying for a second weekend in a row struck a chord within Lucius. Narcissa probably _knew_ what he was, but thought letting him make a spectacle out of himself was better than winning. Now that he took the time to think about it though, he didn't mind. Narcissa had been distraught until Andromeda spoke to her - Which was surprising after he heard what the context of the conversation was.

Then there was Hermione, who he had recently and publicly claimed as his _daughter_. He admitted to himself that her ability to bounce back from what had happened was admirable. The fact that she arranged a game night after being a recluse for an entire week made him feel a little, dare he say, proud?

Lucius came to the decision that he didn't want to disappoint them because his ego was too large.

"Sir, there's thirty seconds left. Would you like to stop?" Crewe's question was timid and it reflected the same uncertainty as Draco.

_Shit._ Now feeling the pressure of time, Lucius crouched down and folded his arms in to look like more like wings. He moved his neck back and forth as he walked around in a circle. There was silence as Hermione and Draco's jaws dropped before they clutched their sides in laughter.

Narcissa was ecstatic to finally see her husband drop another wall he kept up between him and Draco. "A chicken! No? A Peacock!"

Lucius rolled his shoulders forward after withdrawing the next piece of parchment and swung his arms around this time for his next clue to Narcissa. "Troll?" Lucius shook his head, prompting Narcissa for a second guess. "Giant!"

Lucius pulled out another slip of paper, which caused him to immediately drop into the Sphinx pose. Hermione was impressed that Lucius didn't seem to hesitate to throw himself on the floor.

"Fifteen seconds, Sir." Crewe's voice was trembling. The elf was terrified seeing his master behave in such a manor and Draco understood why. His father was terrifying, not a fun-loving, easy-going family man. Draco had never seen his father act this way and he considered that maybe his mother might have put Lucius under the imperious curse.

"Oh, I'm not quite sure-" Lucius rubbed his fist against the side of his head like a cat, causing some hairs to stick up. "Sphinx!" Another correct guess.

"Time is ups, Sir."

When Lucius stood, he made a show of dusting off his clothes. "Three points versus your one."

Hermione was now over her shock and looked at Draco in surprise. She thought that she and Draco would have the upper hand for sure, but Lucius had proved to be a worthy opponent. "Draco, we have to wi - Oh!"

The feeling of something cold going down Hermione's spin stopped her in her tracks.

"Whose visiting after dinner?" Draco was almost as confused as Hermione was was, but his question had answered one she didn't even know she had. _Oh, is that what that feeling means? _Hermione found it was actually a brilliant idea to alert you when someone was at your residence.

Hermione flinched when Crewe disapparated on the spot so he could open the front doors of the manor. Lucius quickly strode off to greet whomever was at the front of the manor, the tail of his shirt still untucked, but his was wand drawn.

* * *

"_This_ is why I bloody say we eat the rich." Moe Besser grumbled as he walked down the rocky pathway to the manor. He had trained under Griselda when she was still an auror and ever since then, his loyalty had lied with her. She was as formidable as any other man, and was also not easily offended when something crass was said in front of her. Thus, Besser was taken with her and did anything she said. He also made sure he over delivered, too, even if all he had to do was train new aurors - like he had to tonight. "No reason anyone should have this much money." The rambling was typical of the older auror, and while Timothy Finn hated being paired with Besser, he listened. Everyone at the Ministry agreed that Besser provided results like no other, but Finn secretly thought that was due to the seasoned auror not following the books like Finn preferred.

Usually, Finn was much more timid around Besser, but between the "Initiation Ceremonies" all the new auror recruits were being forced to participate in by the veteran aurors and the exhaustion he felt from from said ceremonies, he didn't care how Besser would take him disagreeing with his opinion. "Maybe they just _worked _for it, and deserve to live so lavishly."

"You're a god-damn idiot sometimes, you know that?" The insult was one of many that favorite Besser reserved for his trainees. "Did you read the file?"

"Yes. This property belongs to the Malfoys." They were almost to the front door now, but Finn's mind was so far away. He wanted nothing more than to catch some sleep. Agitation flashed through him every time he felt pain behind his eyeballs from being awake for so long. _Maybe they'll let me get two or three consecutive hours tonight_...

"Which means that Lucius bloke didn't even lift a finger for it. It was all inherited. I'd feel a little different if it was earned - not that different though."

"I see." Finn left it at that. Not wanting to trigger Besser into another rant.

When they got to the top of the stairs and Finn went to use the knocker on the large, wooden doors, Besser grabbed his forearm. "We're going to rough him up a little before we bring him in, you understand? Griselda said we're allowed to use force if necessary and with this escaped Death Eater, I want him to know that he's still going to be held accountable for what the Wizarding World went though. And I want _you_ to do it this time."

"Wasn't he found innocent?" Finn did not want to "rough" whoever Lucius was or anyone up. Besser's version of using force was breaking bones and making wizards bleed. When the medics had to be called in once their detainee was at the Ministry, Besser blamed it on splinching or a floo accident. The Wizards who were arrested always tried to tell whoever else they ran into the truth, but no one cared. Finn learned it was just how the system was, and it was a system he was meant to obey if he wanted the job.

Besset's slightly cheery face dropped before he rolled his eyes. "Fucking idiot. Listen, when we separate him from his family, we're going to take a little detour and you're going to use the cruciatus curse on him. The Death Eaters loved using that one back in the day - A little tit for tat."

Finn suddenly felt awake at that, his mentor kick-starting an adrenaline rush with a fresh wave of anger. "Are you barmy? Not even _you_ are allowed to use that curse anym-"

The heavy looking door swung open with ease and Lucius Malfoy himself was now standing in the door way. One side of his head had a bit of a messy look to it, but other than that, he looked as perfect as always from what the aurors could see of him. "I do apologize if you are a bit lost from wherever you two are going, but please do me the favor and leave before I contact _reputable_ aurors." Lucius' barely even acknowledged Finn as he stared down Besser. If looks could kill, Besser would be dead ten times over as he stared at the man who had arrested he and Narcissa so many years ago.

Besser only smiled and gave a forced laugh. "Oh, but we're not lost. We're here to arrest you - Again." Besser saw movement behind Lucius and he rudely poked his head in to see Narcissa, Hermione and Draco all standing there.

"Lucius, are they here to collect our statements?" Narcissa took several steps forward, but she stopped when Lucius looked back at her.

She hadn't heard what the aurors had said, but she knew that if Lucius was attempting to stop her from joining him, then something was surely amiss.

"What are you gentlemen on about?" Lucius changed his tone, but it was hardly as placating as Besser thought it should be. "There will be no arrests tonight, but if you are here to take our statements, come inside and I'll summon-" Lucius had went to put his wand away, but Besser, not being one to miss an opportunity, acted.

"WAND!" Besser punched Lucius before disarming the former Death Eater. Finn thought it would have been best if Besser would have bound Lucius right then and there, but the two men thought nothing alike as Besser swung again at the blonde before tackling him.

Despite being knocked to the ground, Lucius started to fight back. They rolled around on the floor of the door way as Narcissa watched horrified. To Hermione and Draco, it was almost another rerun of watching Lucius and Arthur grapple on the floor of Flourish and Blotts, except Hermione was still unnerved though, because while Arthur worked for the Ministry, he had not been the wizard equivalent of an _on duty cop_.

"Do something! He attacked for no reason!" Hermione screamed at the other auror who was just standing there with dark circles under his eyes, punctuating the roundness of them as he starred, unsure of how to act.

"Uh..." The young auror pulled out his wand and aimed at the two men... and did nothing. Finn was scared, trying to remember any useful information or training that was passed to him from others - Even trying to remember advise _Besser_ had given him. He walked into the manor then around the men, but for some reason he couldn't make the call on who to curse. _Mr. Malfoy is a civilian, and we're supposed to protect them. Besser attacked first, but he's also an auror, and should be respected. Lucius can be charged for assault even if it was self defense, so does that mean he's in the wrong?_ Panic and frustration only filled the young auror when Lucius flipped Besser and pinned him down. Lucius started to rain blows on to the auror and Finn said the first spell that came to mind that would get him to stop. "_Crucio_."

Lucius' back arched before her felt to his side with a heavy thud. He didn't scream as he twitched as Finn's heart wasn't fully in the incantation, but hell had already break loose before he could severe the curse.

"NO!"

Narcissa took a step forward to intervene, her wand out, but somehow Hermione found herself jumping on to the young auror's back before Narcissa had even gotten close. Despite Finn being years older, he was only several inches taller than Hermione and was easy to top over with the force of her weight colliding into him.

When Finn's head hit the portrait that was hanging in the hallway, that was the moment where he felt he could understand the anger Besser had festered over the years. Something within him snapped, finally accepting the truth of being out on the field after a year at the auror academy. None of his missions and assignments had been what he imagined, nothing was easy, and the citizens were simply uncooperative on a good day. Two weeks on the field and he was _over it_.

But more than being over it, he was now angry. Angry, sleep deprived, and unable to think clearly.

Finn stood up before Hermione had the chance to tighten the hold she had on him. Finn pushed her against the wall and in his peripheral vision, he could see Narcissa rushing towards him, but Besser's words were now the loudest in his head as he turned his wand on Hermione: _Tit for tat. Tit for tat. Tit for tat_. "_Crucio_."

In Hermione's mind, the gruesome curse that was uttered was an intense Legato that altered her perception of reality after it was uttered in a matter of seconds; The first thought Hermione could piece together was that she should have been able to feel the violent vibrato of her vocal chords as they rubbing against each other, but instead, there was only the feeling of her magical core being attacked mercilessly. The only other time she could feel her magical core so prominently was when she had drunk the potion Theo left her, and while that had been pleasant, this was more than just the opposite. Her core felt as if it would collapse into itself and burst at the same time, a cacophony of pain she would have done anything to stop - The pain was a fortissimo that danced along the decibel that would kill her in an instant -

And then it did stop. When the cruciatus released its vicious grasp on her, so did her consciousness.

She thought the last thing she was able to hear was Draco calling her name, but she really wasn't sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T/W: TORTURE SCENE.


	40. Perhaps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Mimifreed for being my on call culinary expert

"Tell me how you're feeling."

"You want to know how I'm feeling? Lucius please." Neither Lucius nor Narcissa had slept and for once, their usual roles on their choice of drink were reversed. He was nursing a hot cup of tea while she was working on a tall cup of Irish coffee. Upon taking a sip, she thought there wasn't enough of the sweet cream liquor and she added another dash into the drink. "How - how are _you_?"

"I'm doing quite fine." He was lying. While the curse was brief, it seemed to have triggered muscle memory his body had rid itself of long ago and the spasms had yet to stop. The trembling in his hands came in waves every few minutes, so he was timing when he could drink from his tea and when he could not.

Narcissa knew he wasn't telling the truth, he had always hid his suffering to minimize hers. Her throat tightened, but she only looked away. If this had happened before Andromeda had visited her on Monday, she would have broken down again, but now all she did was readjust her posture in the beige colored chair in Hermione's suite and look into the empty fireplace. "Diggory broke his wand when when he admitted to cru- to cursing Hermione." _Crucio_ and _Hermione_ did not belong in the same sentence, so she didn't dare say it.

Lucius took in Narcissa's profile. Her cheekbones were high and her jawline sharp - but not sharp enough to cross into the line of masculine. Her features screamed nothing but power and he found himself wanting to leave a trail of kisses in an attempt at comforting her. "Yes, we watched him do it after Crewe took Hermione upstairs."

Narcissa brought her gaze back to his before she reached out and took his hand. After picking her feet off the floor, she wandlessly moved her chair to be right beside him. "He'll be harder to track in Muggle London, but it won't be impossible.

_Ah,_ that's where her mind was.

"Are you sure that's the right thing to do?" Lucius wasn't against the idea, he would still to this day burn the world to the ground if Narcissa asked him to do it, but even seeing her act more like herself after the world cup, he was still concerned about her well being.

Narcissa kissed her husband's knuckles before answering the question. "Do you think I should wait to see if I change my mind first?"

The spasms started again and Narcissa gripped his fingers tighter. Lucius thought he could hear the sadistic thoughts flying through her head as she took a deep drink from the coffee. "I think you need to wait. Let the Ministry's attention shift to the Tri-Wizard Tournament at least. Self-Preservation above all else."

She hated to admit it, but Lucius was right. There was a pregnant pause and what she said next came out as a whisper: "I think we should stop trying for another child. I know they're only here two months out of the year, but I would really like to focus on what we already have. Not to mention I-" Narcissa didn't let go of Lucius despite the shaking so she set her cup down on it's saucer to press the back of her fingers against her mouth. Lucius didn't reveal any of the feelings of disappointment that bloomed in his chest. There would be no reason, Narcissa's body was hers and if she felt too stressed out, she wouldn't carry to term anyway. "I can watch the children at the orphanage grow, once it opens in October."

"Of course." Narcissa gave Lucius a smile that showed her the relief she felt every time he respected her wishes. The tremors stopped. "Can I help? With the orphanage?"

Narcissa's smile faltered from the confusion she felt with Lucius' hesitant question. "You already handle all the paperwork and-"

"No." Lucius picked up the hand she was clutching and gently pried her fingers open to kiss the small dip in her palm. "Can I _help_? Can I go with you and read to the children? Can I help by managing the staff when you can not? We could make it our legacy - Or not if you do not want to. We both know I don't have to work and maybe I should just give up trying to keep corrupted channels of business open open -"

_This_ was why she was irrevocably in love with her husband. "Oh, my love, yes. Of course you can help... But you just sealed the a contract with the Darlings, did you not? Perhaps you should think about it more before _you_ make any major decisions."

He gave her palm another kiss before resting his cheek on it. "I've done more thinking than you know." Now it was Lucius was staring off into the distance. They fell into a silence and Narcissa wriggled her fingers to prompt him to continue.

"You can't just say something like that and then not explain it."

Lucius watched Narcissa pour more liquored creamer into her cup before taking another drink from it. He didn't think there was much coffee in it anymore. "Do you ever think..." He took a deep breath as an image of a bruised Theo flashed through his mind, followed by flashes of a very scared Draco, just before Lucius hit him. Draco trying to hold back tears as he screamed at his son of why he _had_ to be hurt. Draco gasping for air from being hit too hard in his gut. Draco. Draco. Draco. Crying. Bleeding. Hurting. _How did I not realize I was so wrong before? How did I not realize I became my father?_ "We've been raising him all wrong." Narcissa stared at her husband. His turn of phrase was always eloquently put, so to hear him start off with a question and end with a statement was off-putting. "We've been grooming him for a role he will never have to take on. I can't believe it's taken me so long to see it, but we've been so scared that Voldemort would come back into our lives that we were raising him to be prepared," his hand shook, but it was a false alarm and quickly stopped. "For pain. A life of servitude disguised as being the elite." Silence fell upon them again, and this time, Narcissa did not encourage him to continue. Lucius had spoke a truth she had not been wanting to face - Something that happened every so often. She brought the cup to her lips once more, but did not drink. Instead, she tapped her fingernails on the ceramic as she thought.

When she had the confidence to speak again, she spared a glance at Hermione's bedroom door behind her as Lucius finished off his tea. "Do you... Do you think we should see someone? We couldn't see another wizard, they would go to the Ministry."

Lucius threw a glare at the door himself. "No." There was a trace of curtness in his tone. "Perhaps we can take a leaf out of Hermione's book and possibly try a more 'self-help' approach with boo-"

"Do you really think you _don't_ need a professional to help you two?" Lucius and Narcissa both turned around to see Dr. Augsen had just stepped out of Hermione's room. The healer raised an eyebrow seeing Narcissa was now present. "Oh, you're here."

"Yes," Narcissa set the cup down on her saucer and stood. There was no pride in her shoulders now, and if Andromeda hadn't been so infuriated still, she would have seen her sister for what she truly was at that moment: a humble, and scared mother. "It took a while to put Draco to sleep and I couldn't leave him alone until I knew he could rest."

Dr. Augsen blinked twice before turning to Lucius, ignoring that Narcissa had even spoke. "Looking at her vitals, the patient seems to be just fine. She just needs to rest and I would like to be owled when she does so I may evaluate her further."

Lucius frowned. "I've never heard of anyone sleeping so deeply after being hit by the cruaxious curse. In fact, it's usually the opposite despite the toll it takes on the body." As if to punctuate his point, his hands started another round of shakes. He put his hands beneath the table to hide them, but both sisters had already saw them.

Dr. Augsen looked down at her watch. She had no where to be, by the time Lucius' owl Zeus had been able to wake her up, it was four in the morning and it was only now approaching five-fifteen AM. Dr. Augsen had looked at the watch, to make a point that she had no intentions of staying longer than she needed to. "Do you keep a lot of obliviated witches in your company? Or a lot of tortured ones?" She blinked twice before continuing. "When I first told you that she was lucky to not have permanent brain damage from the spell that was cast on her, I meant it. However, this will affect her like an underlying disease. On its own, it will not worsen or lessen, but if she were to come into contact with, say, the wrong curse. It can go very bad, very quickly." Narcissa's hand flew to her mouth as she looked behind the healer at Hermione's door. "It could also go very good, but how often do things turn out the way we want them to?" Dr. Augsen acknowledged Narcissa with a pointed glare, before walking towards the suite's door.

Narcissa knew there was no talking to her sister and instead walked into Hermione's room to check on her. Lucius waited until he was sure Narcissa was not going to come back out before he spoke. "Andromeda?"

"That's not my name."

"Then tell me, _Aquila_, what is a constellation to an entire galaxy?" The healer stopped and turned around to stare at the back of the chair Lucius sat in. He didn't turn around as he continued. "I always had some respect for you. It was mostly through Narcissa, but it was there."

"You have a way of showing it, Mr. Malfoy."

"I suppose I do, but I did want to tell you something before you go." One of Lucius' hands came into view as he spoke, palm face up. "_Thank you so much_ for taking the time to come out to the manor at such an ungodly hour."

With a hiss from the pain, Andromeda slammed the door of the junior suite, and walked off at a hurried pace. While she hoped it was soon, she thought that when Hermione woke up and she had to return to the manor, it would be too soon.

* * *

_Peering on the other side of her father, Hermione could see the man had a gun in his hand, pointed at her parents. Hermione patted her side for her wand and for the first time wanted to shout an expletive in anger when she realized it was not on her person. Hermione grabbed the back of her father's coat, shaking out of the fear she felt. _

_"What is it you're needing, sir? You should put that down before someone gets hurt." Hermione listened closely feeling her adrenaline kick in - at least one part of her did._ I'm dreaming. If I focus hard enough, I can prevent it from finishing_-_

_"Your daughter." That was odd - _that_'_s never happened before_. _

_When the murderer had spoke, the words sounded garbled, as if he were trying to speak with Listerine in his mouth. When Hermione looked around her dad once more, she thought she could almost make out the features of who was standing in front of them. She blinked and the scene around her changed._

_Hermione could tell by the taste in the air alone, she was no longer in Paris, but somewhere else in France. She wildly pulled as the man in the bowler hat half dragged her up the stairs of the building. She looked up at the sign above the doorway, desperate to identify where exactly she was, but as soon as she made out the word 'Hostel', she was hit with a pain in her brow like no other. "Aahhh!"_

_When it stopped, she opened her eyes again to see she was tied to a radiator now. She felt sluggish and her chest ached with pain. She heard the cadence of two voices arguing and turned her head to see her captor standing in the doorway, trying to keep someone else out._

_"Your obsession has gone too far!"_

_"Da!" Hermione's outburst had her body leaning forward without her wanting to as it took almost all of her strength to speak so loud. Somehow she knew she was drugged. "Da, help." There were two sets of footsteps that came closer to her. The lighter set had one foot that had a habit of scraping a heel against the ground, and she knew it belonged to her kidnapper. The second set was heavier and there no specific distinction in the gait, but she could tell it wasn't her father's._

_There was more bickering, she was sure of it, but her brain was not processing what was being said. When she tried to lift her head, she found she was unable to turn her head to see who was talking next to her as the drug was still thick in her veins. The more she continued to fight it, the pain would come back so intense that she had to close her eyes and focus on keeping down the vomit threatening to come up. _

_"Time's up, Crumpet." Hermione thought the voice sounded both delighted and sad, but the distortion of her senses were too great, leaving her unsure. "You'll be meeting your parents soon."_

_Hermione felt hope wiggle through her drug-addled mind. "I saved them?"_

_"From the first curse-" There was a slap and the man stopped._

_A deeper voice spoke next, this one sounding familiar, although she wasn't sure why. "I have a better idea, and you will listen to me this time, boy." The floorboards creaked and Hermione could see a pair of shiny black shoes enter her vision. So shiny she could see the man raise his wand, blocking out something lime green - "_Obliviate_!" _

_Then there was silence. _

_Hermione felt more like herself now, but was too scared to open her eyes. She didn't want to be back in the hostel again. She didn't want to open her eyes to face a radiator or those shiny black shoes._

_"You're safe here." Her breath hitched in her throat. She opened one eye and turned to where the voice had come from to see her younger self wearing her primary school uniform. Knowing the girl spoke truth, Hermione opened her other eye as she relaxed her tense muscles. They were back at the cemetery again. The weather was sunny and the headstones were still covered in runes and sigils. "I don't like that, you know."_

_Hermione looked at her younger self, waiting for her to elaborate, but it was clear she wanted Hermione to speak before she continued. "You don't like-"_

_"I don't like it when you choose not to do better. Isolating yourself for a week?" A pause as her younger self thought. "Well, _we_, technically. Since I am you and you are me."_

_Hermione looked down at her Hogwart's skirt, unsure of what to say._

_"Look at them! Don't you think you should be paying your respects while you're here?"_

_Hermione still refused to look at the headstones. "It hurts. Every time we're here and I look at the markings it makes my head hurt." She was whining, she knew she was, but she couldn't stop herself, nor the tears that started to fall._

_"What did mum always say about pain?"_

_Hermione still had the dignity to scoffed. "Mum said a lot about pain. She nearly glorified it."_

_The younger Hermione sighed, this time not out of anger. "Then listen to _me_: _Maybe_, the answers you're looking for is right where the pain is and _Maybe_, you need to learn how to face the music, so to speak."_

_Hermione opened her eyes to look back at the young girl who always sat with her chin high and shoulders back. The young girl who had yet to face what France had brought them, yet she seemed to have all the answers anyway. "I don't know what you're on about."_

_Anger reappeared on the young Hermione's face. "Well, I'm not going to spell it out for you." Her younger self snapped her fingers and the pain that usually came after a nightmare finally appeared, waking her up with the sound of her own screams._

"AAUUHHHHH!" Hermione gripped her head as she screamed from the pain that woke her from her nightmare. _Whywhywhywhywhywhy_\- She grit her teeth, waiting for the pain to subside. _Please stop, please stop, please-_

By the time the pain was only a throb behind the scar on her brow, another hour had passed. She had hoped her shaking was from her rude awakening and the nightmare she had yet to make sense of, but it was obvious after being awake for so long that the Cruciatus curse was to blame. Hermione's body shook violently like a leaf in the wind when a shiver passed through her as she remembered being under the spell last night. She knew what the three unforgivables were - She had discovered them second year. At the time, they were only words on a paper to her - she was after all looking for what monster was terrorizing the Hogwarts castle, and there were other spells that had been _much_ more cruel - but now, she knew why the curse was illegal. If she was the Ministry, she would have the incantations taboo'd so whomever was casting them would automatically be stopped and brought into the Ministry. Unfortunately, the Ministry made taboos illegal, too.

She slid her legs over the edge of the bed and slowly stood up, testing her ability to hold her weight. Hermione had read that the after affects of having the torturous curse cast on a person could cause some muscle weakness. When she grew confident she wouldn't collapse beneath her weight, she walked to her closest. _I want to wear my jumper and joggers today. It's just one weak before I can get to Hogwarts and- _When Hermione opened the closest door she was briefly bewildered that all of her muggle clothes were gone before she remembered why:

_"I'll look at the clothes before we leave and I'll even pack them so you'll have a selection of clothes to wear at our campsite tomorrow." Narcissa placed the last bobby pin into Hermione's hair before taking a step back to admire her work. "What do you think?" _

Hermione threw her head back and sighed. _All of my bloody clothes have been burnt to the ground._

Hermione felt tears well up as she sniffled and took out her wand, needing to toy with it as her magic reacted to her building emotions. _Stop crying all the damn time! It was just clothes..._ Clothes, that her parents bought or gifted her. Hermione thought about the periwinkle dress her mother had passed to her, the same one her mother wore to her prom when she was in her youth. Hermione's entire face crinkled as the fight against her tears became even more difficult. _All I ever do is breakdown, remember techniques, use said techniques to stave off making a scene,_ _only to break down some more. When is this going to stop? I want this to stop._ One tear made its way down her cheek, but that was all Hermione allowed herself to have. Inhaling a shuttering breath through her mouth, she turned to the side of her closet that still had clothes. Narcissa for some reason had decided to leave the jumper Molly had given her so she at least had that, and she paired it with the comfiest pair of dress pants she owned.

Despite her stomach grumbling, every food item Hermione thought of on her way to the kitchens made her feel sick at the thought of it. She settled for a slice of bread before searching for Lucius or Narcissa. Hermione thought it would be best to let them know she was awake - Even though she _knew _their first reaction would be to owl her therapist.

The only thing was, she couldn't find anyone. Lucius was not in his study, Narcissa was not out on the balcony, and Crewe did not appear once to assist her - Not that she would have let him. Draco was probably in his room, but she _really _did not want to travel all the way to the other side of the manor to find him, so she decided to explore the West Wing in search of their master bedroom, despite knowing it was frowned upon.

Hermione tried several doors on the second floor, only to discover they were all locked. Her stubbornness did not falter though, and when she descended the stairs, she entered the hallway she _knew_ would have open doors. It was the same hallway she had confronted Lucius about Buckbeak in and the same hallway she had found Fudge in. She didn't know if the corridor had always been this dark, or if it was the first time she noticed how dark it looked due to her lack of distraction. When she didn't find anyone in the room she ended up in the night of the gala, she walked towards the next door, only to see that there was a staircase leading downstairs with a brass sign that read: _**ANNEX**_**. **The second 'library' Draco mentioned. Popping the last bite of bread she had in her mouth, she decided a detour was in order.

Hermione felt curiosity take over as she followed the arrows beneath the capitalized words. _Just a quick look_... Hermione's stomach leapt from the excitement of doing something she should not and the fear of possibly being caught. A grin appeared on her face as she walked down the dark spiral staircase. She kept both hands on the stone wall and walked slow to make sure she did not skip a step. The temperature dropped a degree or two when she finally made it to the wooden door at the bottom. It had a small window, where she could see light coming though it and she looked behind her at the staircase to make sure she was in fact alone.

Hermione noticed two things when she walked into the Annex, the first was that it was nearly the complete opposite of the library; there were no large open windows since it was underground and instead of large, ornate shelves being spread out amongst the study tables, all shelves down here were pressed against the walls with one table for someone to sit at. The second thing she noticed was Lucius Malfoy sitting in the middle of the room, on the floor surrounded by portraits.

"You're awake." It was obvious he wasn't expecting anyone as he had a look of pure surprise on his face. Hermione didn't think he had slept, his ponytail was only slightly disheveled, but he still wore the clothes he had on last night. "You shouldn't be down here."

_There it is_: The reaction she had expected, but even then, there was only a shadow of a dark look on his face now. He almost looked too spent to conjure a full glare. _What happened last night for him to be put out like this? Even at the Quidditch Cup, he was still the peremptory man I always knew._ "I wanted to let Narcissa know I was up." She walked into the room despite what was supposed to be a warning, looking around at everything she could. Hermione clasped her hands together as a tremor ran through her entire body. _Bloody Auror. I hope he has a wonderful stay in Azkaban_. There also seemed to be heirlooms seated between bookends and she wondered if they faired on the magical side or valuable side. Probably both. "These books are unmarked - Are these all journals?"

"What is that thing doing in here?! Get the hell out!" The voice belonged to Lucius, but when she looked at him, hand over her chest from the shock of his words, she saw that Lucius pointed his wand at a portrait to silence it. _How peculiar, I didn't know spells like that worked on portraits._

"Sorry about that. These portraits are the more... hostile ones I rather not have, ah, others interact with."

Hermione turned her eyes to the ground as she neared the first portrait by her feet. To her right was a snarling Abraxas and to her left was a sneering, young Lucius. She decided to join the real Lucius who was sitting in the middle of the circle of the oil paintings. Some of them had already been silenced, she noted as she saw some were yelling at her as she navigated through the sea of frames. Hermione also noticed the ones present were only of Lucius or his parents, all from different ages and places. There were some that even had a youthful Narcissa, but she didn't jeer at Hermione like the others, she would often stand off to the side and act as if her Lucius was not making a scene in their portrait.

It did not click with Lucius what Hermione was doing until she sunk into the empty space beside him. By then, he felt it was too late to usher her out and just sat there, one eyebrow raised. _She is a character I will never fully understand._

"All of these portraits have a white border to them. Why is that?" Hermione leaned to the side, her arms crossed over her torso as she looked closely at a painting of Lucius' parents. Abraxas shoved his wife behind him in defense as he held his wand out to Hermione.

"Turpentine." Hermione focused on the white border more closely. She could clearly see the rise and fall of the thread in the textile canvas, almost as if the paint was never there. "It stops them from exiting and ending up in other portraits. You can sit there for hours, stripping the layers upon layers of magic to have a muggle painting, but Turpentine works wonders if you don't care for the actual art."

Hermione sat up then, no longer interested in the unfriendly Malfoy that was no doubt yelling at her. "Is this how you recover after an event then? You ask them for advice?"

Their eyes met and it was the first time that Hermione didn't feel like he was trying to intimidate her or have her do something he wanted her to. For the first time, he looked as if he was wanting to learn about her without having to force information out of her. "I suppose that is one way to put it. I would say I more bounce ideas off of them, they act as a soundboard at times. They're supposed to help me keep sight of what my family considered to be important."

Hermione's eyebrows came together, not liking the sound of that. "You have some of them silenced though."

"Most of them." He corrected. Lucius took a sip from the tea cup next to him - A cup from his favorite set - before he continued. "I find myself disagreeing with their ideas more and more as time goes on."

"Oh." Hermione didn't know what to say to that. A part of her was still waiting to see the vile Lucius she had hated for so long, the side that nearly sent Ginny to her death in the Chamber of Secrets, but with his most recent admission, it was clear that maybe, just _maybe_, Lucius was no longer that person. She didn't say any of this though, as the jury was bound to be out for a long while, but she did bring up a topic that had bothered her for over a week: "You called me your 'daughter' when you were speaking to Mr. Crouch."

Lucius bristled and Hermione was unsure if it was caused by the title he had used on her or if it was at Crouch's name.

"You what?"

"That mudblood-"

"I don't believe it!"

_Silencio_ after _Silencio_ was cast as Lucius quieted the remaining vocal portraits. Hermione had forgot they technically weren't alone, but while Lucius looked annoyed, he didn't snap at her like he would have a year ago. When he was done and saw that she was staring at him intently, waiting for a reply, he exhaled sharply through his nose. "I did."

Her response was immediate, she didn't even bat an eyelash as she stared at him. "Don't do it again."

Lucius was once again surprised to the point of his eyebrows freely raising to his hairline. "No?"

"I am not your daughter and I don't think you should refer to me as such until you refer to Draco as your 'son'."

Now, he was completely lost. Lucius wondered if loony banter was an example of what Andromeda would consider to be 'very bad.' "I do call Draco-"

"Forgive me for interrupting," Her tone left Lucius no doubt that she did not care if he forgave her or not, "But you refer to him as your son like he's an accessory. You call him an heir as if that is more important than him being your own flesh and blood. How do you think he feels?" Hermione had always felt a little angry about the relationship between Lucius and Draco, but she had felt helpless to do anything about it. Hermione also had the feeling there was no helping the situation if Narcissa condoned it, but now that she was alone with Lucius, she felt more than confident in taking advantage of the fact to at least call him out on the behavior. "And this is before I get to-"

Realization dawned on him. Hermione wasn't barmy as all. "Don't. Say it."

"Physical abuse." Hermione made sure she punctuated every syllable feeling aggravation starting to stir within her.

Lucius picked up the cup and threw it where it crashed into the Annex's only exit and entrance. This only made him even more furious when he realized a second later that his intimidation tactic was at the price of a cup in his favorite tea set. He could repair it with magic, but he found the tea didn't taste the same after doing so. That may have just been his mind playing tricks on him though.

Hermione didn't do anything, but keep her eyes on Lucius, not backing down an inch from her confrontation. The last thing she wanted him to think was that she was frightened. This time when Lucius shook, he wasn't sure if it was from anger or from the cruacious_._ "So you think you can come in here, and rub it in my face that my son hates me? You are not untouchable, young lady-"

"I didn't say he hates you, but I'd be surprised if he didn't think that _you_ hated _him_."

For some reason, that caused Lucius' anger to deflate. "What?"

Hermione shook her head at him. "Children have the tendency to see their parents as Gods. From what I have heard and seen, you have been absolutely foul for no reason. I see how different he is when he is around you. Draco is not himself and I wouldn't be surprised if you found out one day that you don't even know your own son."

Lucius' head felt like it was spinning on his shoulders at her words. He knew they rang true, and it was a hard truth to swallow. He always sought the comfort of the portraits when he felt too inflicted to make his own decisions - A secret he tried to keep from others, as he did not want to come across as dependent - But now he posed the same question to her that he had to the portraits. "You agree that I'm too hard on him?"

Hermione huffed indignantly. "You grabbed _me_ by my neck on _Christmas,_ so you could leave him to cry in the Library after you _punched a thirteen year old_ in the gut. You're - how old are you?"

"Forty." He grumbled.

"A forty year old. _Punching_ a thirteen year old. People have died from going too far in 'disciplining' their children, you know." Hermione did air quotes when she said 'disciplining.'

Lucius jumped to the defensive at that. "I would never-"

"Intentionally?" Hermione shrugged a shoulder. "Probably not. Keep it up and I reckon you'll cause enough damage that you'll no longer have a relationship with Draco." She pointed a finger at a large portrait of Lucius and Narcissa that was propped against a shelf because it was so big - It also happened to be the same one that Lucius had over the foyer's mantel until Hermione and Draco had their pillow fight. "He'll silence you just like you've done to every portrait here."

Lucius sat there without speaking and Hermione wondered if she had gone too far, but she reassured herself that if Lucius hadn't turned his wand on her, then she probably hadn't. His gaze had fell on a portrait of him, his father and his mother all posing together, but he wasn't really looking at it. He was ingesting the hard truths of everything Hermione said. In his thought process he realized two thing: The first being that Hermione was horribly right. Lucius _hated_ his father, even as he tried to jump hoops for the dead man till this day. The second was that aside from how he was raised, Lucius struggled with Hermione for so long because she was his a representation of his conscious. A representation of unaddressed trauma he was still not wanting to face. It was easier to hate the masses he murdered if he simply thought of them as _things_. "I don't know how to fix that." Lucius didn't realize he spoke out loud until she replied.

Hermione recognized that Lucius was not just a business man, but a family man to the core. Presented with facts, he had a tendency to listen, and it was one of the few things she respected about him. Seeing that he was remorseful about his actions made her elated that she chose her confidence in him rather than her doubt of him. "You could... Start by being the father your thirteen year old self always wanted." Hermione wasn't sure if it was a good suggestion or not, but that was all she had left to offer.

* * *

"And that was the last thing you remember before you fell unconscious?"

"Yes." Shortly after Lucius and Hermione exited the Annex, he sent for her healer as she expected he would. "I know Draco was by my side, but I don't think I could even stay awake if I wanted to."

Dr. Augsen nodded her understanding. Instead of a Quick-Quill writing for her, she decided to hand write her notes this time. "I see. Are you sure you are only experiencing muscle spasms? No vomiting, muscle weakness, headaches...?" Dr. Augsen tilted her head to the side as she observed Hermione. It was interesting to see how her reaction had differed from the Quidditch Cup to the visit from the Aurors last night.

"No. I had a headache when I first woke, but it's much better now."

"I see. Well, I suppose I should ask your favorite question now." The therapist smiled and Hermione did the same, although hers was much smaller.

Before Hermione answered, she looked away from her therapist, her tone was very matter-of-fact. "I'm... Well, I don't know how I feel. Lucius told me what happened after I passed out, but... Even the parts I was awake for do not seem real to me. It feels like it happened to someone else - No. Like I just read it in a history book."

_Ah, that explains it._ "You're still in shock then."

Hermione nodded, she guessed as much. After the Quidditch Cup, she recognized she was spending her time in her room dissociating and not once had she experienced that since she woke up. "Yes. So much has happened in a span of a week." Hermione's hands started to tremble once more and immediately she was doing the hand exercise Dr. Augsen had shown her to help reduce the shaking. _How peculiar my own body is evidence of what had happened, yet I still have yet to deal with it._ Hermione thought then that maybe she should try preparing herself in the best way she could. She learned over the course of the year that her mind was the weather _and_ the open ocean, while she was a surfer stuck in the between the two. It was up to her ability to use her experience and skill to survive when storms may come her way, while juggling the constant threat of drowning. _Resources, resources, resources. _"I do think I need to have the dreamless draught dose upped. I had a nightmare breakthrough last night."

_That's interesting._ Dr. Augsen tilted her head to the side. "Has that ever happened before?"

"No, ma'am. It was a first." Dr. Augsen tapped the tip of her quill on her notepad, causing some of the ink in it to sputter on to the page, but she didn't seem to care. Hermione thought it was a very muggle thing of her to do, almost as if she wrote with pens more than quills.

"Do you remember the nightmare at all?"

Hermione's eyebrows came together as she looked at the knee-high table between them. She was hit with the feeling that she was forgetting something awfully important, but no matter how hard she tried, it remained out of arms reach. She could only recall sitting in the graveyard now. "I suppose it has something to do with my parents... I only ever dream of them when I forget the draught."

Dr. Augsen tsked and Hermione looked back up at the healer, never hearing her make the sound before. Dr. Augsen waved a palm at her in apology. "Just thought of something. If you are up to it, I think it would be wise if we held off on changing the dose, at least until you return to Hogwarts on Monday. Dreams are often a window into our subconscious and maybe you can find something that needs to be addressed to stop them. Perhaps keep your journal next to your bedside and write down anything you remember the moment you wake up?"

Hermione didn't like the idea at all. "I don't think-"

_Knock. Knock. Knock._ The suite door opened and Narcissa's highlighted head popped in the doorway before the rest of her body appeared. "Hullo, I brought lunch!" Narcissa opened the door all the way so show she was levitating a tray full off food behind her.

Before it could be set on the table though, Dr. Augsen was on her feet, already halfway to the door. "That's my cue then-"

"I brought enough for three-"

"No, thank you. I'm afraid I don't really have much of an appetite these days." Dr. Augsen walked past Narcissa without looking in her direction and only turned back to look back at Hermione once she was in the door way. "I'll see you at Hogwarts, Hermione."

Hermione and Narcissa both did not know what to say about the speedy exit. When they looked at each other though, Hermione gave Narcissa a warm smile. She had not seen her all day, and if truth be told, she was worried about her. "How are you?"

"I should be asking you that, Hermione." Narcissa could hear her voice sounded slightly forced, but she quickly pulled up her occulemency walls not to concern the teen. "May we have lunch together?"

"Yes, of course." Hermione sat up and inhaled the scents of the food before her. She was going to miss the food at the manor when she left in two days. Her stomach still told her that none of the food would settle well, but she knew she needed to eat and decided to start off with a combination of peppered water crackers and cheese slices. Hermione pretended to debate if she should add jam to her cracker as she spoke so she didn't have to look at Narcissa.

"Lucius mentioned that you had stopped the Auror."

Narcissa paused for only a fraction of a second before reaching for her own cheese and cracker serving. "Yes." Narcissa had been in such a rage, that she transformed in front of them all before she bashed the young Auror's head into the wall Hermione originally knocked him into, knocking him out. Besser screamed at the sight of Narcissa, but it was nothing rewriting his memories couldn't fix. It turned out Narcissa still had to address the fact that once she was emotionally spent, something that seemed to only be triggered by her children being put in serious danger, she did not care about the consequences of her actions. _I'm really not setting a good example this week._ "Perhaps... I owe you an apology for allowing you be in a situation like that while in my care." The fairy magic hadn't hurt her when she said the word, but she did feel the heat of it coil around her throat. It was a warning for when she actually said it.

Hermione tried to quickly swallow the cracker so she could stop Narcissa. "Oh, please don't! I appreciate you would want to respect my customs over yours, but don't put yourself in pain for me. None of it was your fault."

Narcissa wanted to crudely laugh at the last statement, but she was more concerned with the wording Hermione had just used. "Pardon me?"

"Because you're half fae." Hermione said this slowly. She felt as if she was admitting to something she wasn't supposed to know, which now that she thought about it, she wasn't. "I noticed the night - When we got back from the fields." Hermione shifted her weight in her chair. Remembering Narcissa crying was something she wished she could forget, especially after seeing Draco's face through it all. _Draco..._ "How is Draco? The last thing I remember is him being by my side when I lost consciousness."

Narcissa froze, as she thought about her son, specifically his reaction to last night. When she turned to look back at Hermione after knocking the Auror unconscious, she turned to see Draco had pulled Hermione's head into his lap as he watched his mother with a look on his face that made her blood run cold. He was frightened. She summoned Crewe to have him move Hermione and Draco into their rooms before healing the Auror and wiping his memories along with Besser's. After giving her statements to Cedric Diggory and whatever young Auror he had also been training at the time, she went upstairs to his room, only to find Draco was actually waiting in Hermione's room with her. It surprisingly took a some coaxing to convince him he needed to rest, but Narcissa waited with him until he fell asleep. "Draco is well. I checked on him while you were in your session with Dr. Augsen, he's rather worried about your well being. _After lunch_," Hermione had started to stand, forgetting to ask for permission to dismiss herself, "I think he would be delighted to see you."

Hermione sank back into her seat and looked at the tray of food. She hadn't noticed it before, but the yellow potion Narcissa had been brewing for her this week was waiting next to quite a large sandwich. "Of course." This time she didn't hesitate to drink the potion, knowing Narcissa wasn't going to let her leave without Hermione taking care of herself first.

* * *

When Draco answered the knocking on his bedroom door, Hermione didn't hesitate to throw her arms around him. "Are you okay?" She inhaled his scent and squeezed, not wanting to let him go. It was odd how after drinking the potion, hunger started a domino effect on her feeling _real_ again. It was like she was waking up for the first time after several hours of being active and having conversations. The more she sat and ate while she conversed with Narcissa, the more the truth of what had happened to her seemed to seep in. After hunger was an anxiousness to see Draco, to have a friend, to feel a comfort in what she thought of as her home. A home in which she had been harmed in. The one place that should have been safe for her.

"I'm not the one who got hit with a curse last night, are-"

"I've had to answer that question almost five times today, please don't make me answer it again."

Draco made a sound between a huff and a laugh, before his arms finally settled around her and he put his cheek on the top of her head. "I wasn't sure if you wanted space again - Oof-" Hermione squeezed tighter.

"We can have space at Hogwarts. I want to laugh again and not think about _that_ feeling ever again."

"Villiage idiot is at your service then." Draco understood where she was coming from and tried to lighten the mood with the joke, but she didn't even try to swat at him. He didn't want to hear her _scream_ like that ever again. He had already promised himself that if any harm came to her a third time, he would do more. Draco hated that he just sat there and watched as she thrashed on the floor. "So, are we're still pretending to hate each other when we get to Hogwarts?" Images of her laughing with Harry and Ron appeared in his head. He responded to Harry's letter in the event that she had not, but Hedwig never came back with so much as a thank you - Not that Draco was expecting some semblance of civility from Harry.

When he lifted his head off of hers, she took it as a sign she needed to let go of him, so she did. "I don't think I can handle any more stress. I just want to feign normality once we get back so I can forget about everything that happened after the gala." Hermione was shaking her head as she teared up. "Why do bad things keep happening to me?" She was starting to shake and this time, it wasn't from the curse.

Draco felt culpable for her suffering and wanted to somehow make it up to her, but if Hermione didn't want to act like she lived at the manor every Summer, he would respect her wishes. "Hey," Draco pulled her in from the door frame and into his room. "It's okay now. You're safe." His voice broke on the last word and he wished he didn't know why. He wished he was as ignorant as he was last Summer about the truth of his parents being on the wrong side of history. He knew these past two weekends were _nothing_ compared to the stories he heard, but it was enough for it to sink in that they _were not_ just stories. _And now they want to be _nice, _of all things._ Draco couldn't remember having physical contact with his mother in two consecutive weeks since he was a tot and now she was almost... doting. Reality was pulling the rug from beneath him and all he could do was let it happen.

The waves of the first war weren't just crashing on the shores of the muggleborns and halfbloods he was told to look down on, it was also causing erosion in his life whether he chose to acknowledge it or not. _Am I supposed to be just like them and hurt everyone around me. Including Hermione?_ Suddenly, his breathing became more shallow and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Draco are you crying?" Hermione pulled back and reached a hand to touch his cheek that was wet. Not having fairy wings, it made sense to her that he would cry like a normal wizard.

He wiped at his face as he stepped away from her. He couldn't tell her what he was thinking and he felt unworthy of her comfort. _She's bad again because of me._ His braething became shallow. "I just..." _I feel guilty for being in on it. I feel guilty for not helping you. I don't want to be the person Potter and Weasly think I am. That a majority of the Wizarding World thinks I am_. "I keep thinking about the peacocks." He _did_ feel bad about the large birds, but he still felt silly trying to use that as a cover, all things considered. "They were tethered to the tent and I didn't save them-" Draco sunk to the floor, his back against the wall with Hermione kneeling beside him.

"We had to run for our lives, we couldn't run back to our tent to see if they were okay." Despite the situation, she felt a weird sense of pride at knowing her friend well enough to know he wouldn't be okay. In a much more quiet voice, she continued, "You're not to blame, you know."

Draco forced himself to look her in the eye. He forced himself to see the trust she had for him and feel bad about it. "I guess I'm the one throwing the pity party now?" Hermione looked down as she snorted. He wasn't in a humorous mood, but if self-deprecating jokes keep her attention off of how he truly felt, he would keep making them.

"I suppose so." When she looked up, he forced a small smile on his face again so she didn't second guess how he really felt. "I have an another idea for an activity we can all spend time doing tonight."

Draco sigh before shaking his head once. "I think it's much too soon. You won't get mother or father to agree to it."

"Maybe _I_ can't, but you might." Draco could see Hermione was already slipping into deep thought about whatever was up her sleeve and Draco decided to reserve his energy to dissuade her after he heard what she had to say so he could disintegrate her argument. "I wonder though, what are your parent's favorite composers?"

* * *

Draco soon found out after hearing what Hermione had planned that he not only was unable to stop her from doing what she set her mind to, but he also didn't _want_ to stop her. In fact, he actually wanted to _help_ instead. He did however, convince her to wait until that Sunday, the Sunday before they boarded the Hogwarts express. Hermione was happy about the decision to wait in the end, as Diggory returned to the manor with Dr. Augsen on Saturday to officially collect everyone's statements on what happened at the Quidditch Cup. Their appearances, despite peaceful, brought the tension they spent the week getting rid of.

"Draco, what is it you are wanting to show us?" Narcissa asked as they passed the double doors of the first library.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure her parents were still following him. "It's a surprise." He grinned and quickened his pace as giddiness came over him. He was still hesitant about the new view on parenting Narcissa and Lucius seemed to be adopting, but he was going to treat it as he did most things in life and just go with it. Lucius started to say something harsh, but stopped himself remembering he was attempting to give Hermione's advice a try, and react how he would have wanted Abraxas to.

Hermione turned from the large windows to greet the three of them when she heard the door open. She didn't hold back her smile to hide her two front teeth like she usually did with others. "Hullo." Hermione motioned to the three seats across from her.

"A private concert?" Narcissa cooed as she took the middle chair.

"Yes, I decided I shouldn't be so shy with sharing my talents." Hermione sat in the seat facing them that was in front of the grand piano.

Lucius had a small smile that seemed to be playing on his lips, but he laughed at Hermione's forward statement. "Some would say that too much ego kills your talent."

Hermione pondered his words for a moment. "I can see that if you let it lose sight of your strength and weaknesses. Good thing I'm practical." Narcissa and Lucius laughed, both delighted in witnessing Hermione's snarky side.

"Ready?" Draco sat on the bench of the white grand piano, waiting for her to start.

"Oh, is the third seat not for Draco?" Narcissa held her hands to her chest. When she brought Hermione into their home, it never once crossed her mind that they would actually play together, but words could not be described with how elated she felt that they were now close enough to arrange it on their own - For her and Lucius, no less.

"It was actually for Crewe, but he thought it was improper for him to come as a guest." Hermione had been slightly miffed at that, but she was trying to learn not to dwell on her feelings. She looked back at Draco, nodding for him to start.

Much to Hermione's chagrin, she found that if she wanted to base their performance off of the composers that Lucius and Narcissa were fond of, she had the choice between Antonio Vivaldi or Claude Debussy. While Hermione liked Vivaldi's pieces, they weren't impressive to her anymore. The ones she had learned were the more popular songs and she wanted what she shared with the Malfoys to be special. Debussy was not a composer she was fond of, but she knew the Cello Sonata he wrote and it was actually... Perfect.

She always dreaded listening to Debussy, let alone having to play Debussy. Draco however, learned to play many of his pieces for his mother - including this one despite never accompanying a string musician before - and had a unique interpretation on how powerful the notes should be played. For days they had practiced together until they finally felt they had found a common ground on how they should play the piece.

Hermione closed her eyes when the first note came in. She had just enough time to vividly imagine Draco's pale fingers gliding over the piano keys before she had to bring her bow across her Cello. At first, the sonata allowed for a melodic atmosphere to fill the room. It was quiet sounding compared to the rest of the piece, but it was there and demanded to be heard. Hermione fell into her own space as she played, but unlike all the other times she practiced by herself, she didn't feel like she was in complete solitude. Draco was there with her in that special place this time.

One of the parts Draco found to hit him the hardest was actually in the middle of the prologue of the Sonata. It was as if that peaceful bubble the first two minutes of the piece provided had been burst like a bubble, much like Hermione's appearance in the Malfoy family's lives. It was almost as if panic had gripped the song, trying to twist its notes into a more chaotic feel, but when it released its hold, there was only cautious hesitation before it rebuilt. Draco thought it was beautiful.

The Sérénade that came next was Hermione's favorite part. She plucked the strings as Draco's fingers flitted across the the lower keys. It felt like she was trying to regain control of her life and who she was again. This cycle repeated in the piece in different forms, but the emotion stayed raw every time it came around. She lived with every fiber of her being and playing her cello for Narcissa and Lucius was no different.

Then there was the Finale, and this time, Draco and Hermione seemed to feel as if they were playing it for the first time. They finished with everything they had, their song officially melding as one. Maybe it was due to them having an audience, maybe it was because after a long year and an even longer Summer they finally achieved what neither of them knew they wanted:

An understanding.

The bouyant notes weren't completely cheery, but they were in sync. They worked together and there was once again a peaceful feel to them - Finally a method to the madness had been found. There was no telling if it was the cello that caressed the piano notes or if it was the piano that embraced the cello notes. They were just one. Even when the cello seemed to spiral, the piano was there to ground it, to remind the cello that while it was brash, it shouldn't run off on the first hair brained note it found. Not without the piano at least.

When Hermione stopped playing, she looked back at Draco. He was staring back, slightly out of breath, with a small smile Hermione had come to love. For a moment they were still in that space they shared while playing, and something definitely passed between them: _they didn't want anyone else to accompany them ever again._ They just weren't sure if they were still thinking about music or not.

"That was brilliant!"

"Quality. Absolute quality."

Both Narcissa and Lucius were clapping and Hermione jumped being brought out of her reverie with Draco. The next thing she knew, Draco was by her side, a hand offered to help her stand so they could bow.

Hermione tried to tell herself the buzzing of her fingers were just an after affect of playing with vigor for the last eleven minutes, but she wasn't so sure as her other hand felt just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cello Sonata by Claude Debussy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVxz-Uw9ymA
> 
> Hey y'all! Next update might be up on 10/25/20 instead of 10/18/20. My second job is forcing me to come back to work and it is going to cut into my writing time. Hopefully not by much, but in the event, I rather tell you guys now instead of making y'all wait without notice.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. Between here and Ao3 I have over a thousand followers and that is AMAZING. Mind blowing really. I also wanted to let everyone know in case you haven't noticed but I have written a multi-chapter fic called The Most Dangerous Game. It's pre-written (it's only 5 chapters) and being updated every Saturday. I will warn you that it is a Dark fic AU that is gory. Hope to see you there too!
> 
> Also, ARE WE HAPPY THEY ARE GOING BACK TO HOGWARTS OR WHAT?


	41. Year Four: Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, I had a reader ask me to start doing recaps of the previous chapters so I am going to start doing them. If there are any TWs for the chapter, they will be listed under the recap.
> 
> Recap of Chapter 40: Lucius and Narcissa open up the dialogue about their parenting tactics and the orphanage. Hermione calls Lucius out on said parenting tactics. Narcissa and Hermione talk about her being half fae. Draco now has a guilty conscious and nearly has an attack in front of Hermione, but she comforts him to the best of her ability. Draco and Hermione play a Sonata for Narcissa and Lucius.
> 
> A/N: Friendly reminder that dialogue and scenes from the books are used in this fanfiction.

Whatever Pansy Parkinson wanted, she got.

"Now remember, the Triwizard Tournament is supposed to be taking place at Hogwarts this year, which means that there will also be the Yule Ball to look forward to."

"Yes, father."

"Do you think you can get him to ask you to _that_ this year?"

Pansy looked her father square in the eye. "I can try my best." Mr. Parkinson squinted in response, not liking the confrontation. His features always reminded Pansy of a bull dog with a thinning comb over.

"Don't look at your father like that and uncross your arms, _Pandu_." Pansy broke the eye contact to look Mrs. Parkinson in the eye, hearing her mother's nickname for her being being used. The short desi woman rarely intervened when Pansy was was getting the third degree from her father, but when it came to the topic of Draco Malfoy, she became very vocal. "When I was your age, my sister and I were already engaged -" Pansy's mom always brought up her and her sister's early marriage, especially in private where Mr. Parkinson could not hear her complain about how she got the raw end of the marriages, due to her sister married the much more stable Mr. Patil, father of the Patil sisters.

"Yes, well," Her English father interrupted, "Lucius doesn't _believe_ in arranged marriages. Thinks he has the pick of the litter, he does." Her father grumbled. "He wants Draco to make a choice."

_Did he just call me a dog?_ Her head pulled back and her mouth was agape as she watched her father shovel eggs into his mouth. As much as Pansy played stupid, she wasn't anymore dim than the next Slytherin. It was just easier for her to _play_ the gormless bint, as it stopped her from standing out. No one asked her questions or made fun of her intelligence, like they did Hermione Granger. People simply heard Pansy talk for two minutes and decided to shove her into a box and push her to the back of their minds. There were few times she regretted the fact of playing the role well, and this appeared to one of them.

"Eat your food, we need to get you off to the train." Pansy eyes shifted back to her mother. Her chest hurt. _Why do they treat me as if I am nothing more than a pawn? __Prabhu didn't have to worry about marriage before he graduated!_ She almost brought up this fact about her older brother in her defense, but she remembered that it would be useless. There was always a double standard between the two siblings, and there was nothing she could do to change that. After all, his name meant _god_ while her name was just a hybrid garden flower.

As Pansy ran her hair through her freshly cut bob, her mother tsked. "I don't want to remind you again, if you do not marry Draco then your father and I will die from being out on the cold streets when we lose our home. Do you understand that we _need_ you to have him marry you?"

Pansy nodded, but decided now was the time to speak up before they headed to Kings Cross in a couple of hours. "I understand, but why him? He's not interested. Why can't I marry Montague or Knott?"

Her mother waved a dismissive hand. "They are well off, but do you think they can afford out livelihood? You saw the Malfoy home at the gala, and I want to spend the rest of my days there."

"Right." Pansy forked some of her food in her mouth, but she could hardly taste it. Her mouth felt like chalk as the tears burned in their ducts. They had been pressing her since first year that she needed to create a friendship, then a relationship with Draco, but she couldn't see him as more as that – Not to mention he was more vile than not towards her. She tried her hardest, put her best act on around him, but it wasn't enough. Pansy could never get past the walls he constantly hand up. She was both relieved and frustrated by this.

Whatever Pansy Parkinson wanted, she got. What would be much to her parent's dismay once they found out, was that Pansy Parkinson did _not_ want Draco Malfoy.

* * *

Hermione was trying not to feel guilty, but the silent treatment that Lucius was giving her was working in guilt tripping her. She was aware it was just a tactic to manipulate her into apologizing, she couldn't help, but give into it. It was the last time she would see her guardians for a few months and she had not wanted to leave on a bad note. "If I would have known that Crewe would have been too distraught to take us to King's Cross, I wouldn't have _tried_ to free him again." _I would have just done it,_ she mentally added. Crewe, she had decided, was completely brainwashed. He was beyond reasoning with and she realized a little too late that she was going to need to _show_ him the benefits of being free instead before trying to convince him.

Lucius, however, had been upset that she had even attempted it in the first place. He felt like she was trying to give away something that wasn't hers, even though Crewe was supposed to serve her too. Lucius didn't reply to Hermione and when they were nearing Platform 9 and 3/4, Narcissa spoke instead. "Go ahead, we'll watch to make sure no one sees you two."

Draco paused from pushing the cart to give his mother a small nod. Usually he didn't have to push one, but since Crewe wasn't there to handle their things for them, he had no other choice. Draco and Hermione walked side by side at a near crawl as they watched a few other Hogwarts students slide into the brick partition, transporting them to the platform where the Hogwarts Express would be waiting. Before deciding to enter themselves, they watched Daphne Greengrass push Astoria Greengrass through the wall as they went form muggle London to the wizarding London. Astoria was sitting on the suitcases, facing her sister and the sight reminded Draco of something magical he was sure Hermione had not ever heard about.

"We should try that."

Hermione looked over to Draco who nodded his chin to the suitcases in front of them, beckoning her to take a seat. "What? No, I'd feel ridiculous. I have two good legs for a reason."

"Oh, sorry," Draco lifted both hands in the air before leaning on the handle bar of the cart with one elbow. "I was just under the impression that you Gryffindors thrived off of new discoveries and experiences." There was a twinkle in his eye and she got the feeling that whatever he was talking about, he wouldn't indulge her in unless she did as he said.

Hermione glanced between him and the wall, who now had Ernie McMillian walking backwards into it while he talk to his parents. It made their disappearance look almost seamless to the busy muggles bustling around them. "I'm not sure I'm following."

"Just trust me, Hermione." Draco gripped the handlebar with one hand and held the other out to help her take a seat on the suitcases. The hand was unnecessary in keeping her balance as she climbed on to the cart, but it would have been rude of her to refuse it. Hermione made a show of crossing her legs once she sat on their luggage and laced her fingers over her knee, before pursing her lips as Draco started to push the cart. He had a smirk on his face as he picked up speed and Hermione's stomach flipped. She knew they weren't going too fast, but the thrill of not seeing where she was going as he started to race towards the wall was a little on nerving. "And don't close your eyes!" Hermione had been thinking about it, but only because she was now forced to look at Draco as he pushed her around King's Cross station. She was starting to feel flustered.

Before she could deny his claim though, she had been submerged into the magical wall. Every time she had come to King's Cross station, walking through the wall had been as instant as walking through any doorway. One step she was in King's Cross, the next step she was on Platform 9 and 3/4.

This time though, something that she could only describe as magical happened. The second her face disappeared behind the bricks, she was literally suspended in space between the two worlds. Around her, stars seemed to zoom and galaxies swirled in the far distance. "Blimey." The word should have been a whisper, but it seemed there was no sound in the space she was in. She looked back at Draco who was walking in slow motion, not looking around. Hermione realized she was experiencing this alone as the seconds ticked by and Draco's eyes did not once flicker from her grinning face.

All too soon, they were back on to the platform, surrounded by other Hogwarts students. "Did you see it?" Draco pushed them off to the side so they would not be in anyone else's way. He knew she did, but he wanted the verbal confirmation that she enjoyed it also. Her eyes were bright as she stepped off the cart and Draco couldn't help but think of how much he loved seeing her full of wonder at what he thought to be the simplest of magical things.

"What was that? Why have I not seen that before? It was like - Like I stepped through a wormhole."

Draco picked up their suitcase from the cart, leaving her to carry Hades. Hermione's owl, Persephone, refused to climb into her cage and instead opted to fly back to Hogwarts. "I don't know what a wormhole is."

"Oh, a Wormhole is a speculative structure linking two different points in space-time." Draco looked at her, completely lost in the unfamiliar terminology. Hermione picked up the end of her robe to give him a visual crash course. "Imagine my finger tips are two different places and the fabric between them would be distance or space between them." He nodded and she wrinkled the fabric that had been taut between her fingers tips so now her fingers were touching. "_This_ would be a wormhole."

"Oh!" Narcissa and Lucius just stepped through and were searching for them. Draco raised one hand to get their attention. "I suppose that's exactly what that was then. Although wizards don't obviously call it that." He paused, suddenly self-conscious that his answer for the wall was as intellectually sound as her explanation of what a wormhole was. "I can't explain why it works differently depending on which way you're facing, but I know the Ministry sets it up that way to help keep young children calm to avoid them throwing a tantrum at the sudden change in scenery."

Hermione nodded, her mind already running through the charms and enchantments she knew, wanting to piece together what exactly the entrance to Platform 9 and 3/4 was made of. It started to make sense to her why numerous Hogwarts students would pass through going backwards. She always assumed it was just a creative way to pass through in a way that was perceived as natural to any non-magical bystanders, but now she imagined they did it to catch a glimpse of the thirty second window of space she witnessed.

"The train will be boarding soon." Lucius stated with a slight, matter-of-fact drawl in his voice. He looked slightly put out as Narcissa moved a lock of hair off his shoulder and Hermione had the feeling he had just been scolded for giving her the silent treatment. "You two will be having an eventful year and we'll be expecting you for Easter."

"Yes, Sir." Hermione and Draco replied in Unison. They had discussed the topic of the Triwizard tournament over dinner and knew they would not be going back to the manor for Christmas. This made Hermione sad for many reasons, but she refused to dwell on it. This morning she had awoken with the same vigor she had the day of the Quidditch World Cup - _This year would be a _good _year, a _normal _year, she promised herself_.

"I'll be owling you before Christmas to verify what you'll be wearing." Narcissa winked at Hermione. Hermione knew she was going to end up having another dress designed for her, but she was unsure if she was excited about that. The Persephone costume was lovely, she just wasn't sure if she was looking forward to another large event.

The whistle blew and all four of them looked at the large red and black train. "We'll see you on holiday then - Oh!" Hermione threw her arms around Narcissa to hug her good bye. Draco's eyes nearly popped out of his head when Hermione took a step back to do the same to Lucius. Before he could try to deter her next move, Hermione gave him a light hug, ignoring the awkwardness radiating from Lucius. Lucius was determined not to react until he looked at Narcissa, who found the sentiment to be adorable as she drew Draco in for a hug herself. Remembering the last conversation he and Hermione had alone, he settled for lightly patting her on the shoulder.

When she let go, Lucius held an uncertain arm out for Draco to step in to. Draco was stiff as he walked over and gave his father a brief, one armed hug. The hug wasn't as warm as Lucius thought it would be and he thought he would need to work on being more open with physical affection. Draco found himself preferring that it never happened, despite how much he liked watching Hermione defy his father. de

As soon as Draco and Hermione were on the train, their respective trunks in their grasp, they gave each other a nod before they parted ways. Their act of being enemies was now on for the school, and all they will have to look forward to were stolen, friendly moments where they eyes of the public were no longer on them.

* * *

"... Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts. He knows the headmaster, you see. You know his opinion of Dumbledore and Durmstrang doesn't admit Muggleborns. Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do..."

Hermione got up and closed the compartment door. When she turned around, Ron's eyes were narrowed in suspicion. "That's your _friend_, then?"

"Ron, don't." She warned.

"He wanted to say 'mudblood', Hermione. I heard him stutter."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "I have _never_ heard any of the Malfoys even hesitate, let alone stutter."

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" Harry interrupted to avoid them starting a bickering match before they got to Hogwarts.

"Yes," said Hermione sniffily, "and it's got a horrible reputation. _According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe_, it puts a lot of emphasis on the 'Dark' Arts. So _of course_ everyone is wary of the school."

Harry nodded, but said nothing after seeing Hermione rolled her eyes at the word 'dark.' He heard her theory that magic was in fact _grey_ instead of light and dark, but dreaded the thought of hearing it again as he and Ron disagreed with her. Before he could ask any other questions about Durmstrang, the Trolley Witch came by and Harry purchased a stack of cauldron cakes.

"How was it getting back to the Burrow after the Quidditch Cup? I'm sure your mum was in hysterics, Ron." Hermione inquired as she pressed the cross on her necklace between her thumb and pointer finger, shaking her head at Harry's offering of a cake.

"She wouldn't stop fudding over the twins, screaming about how she had yelled at them before we left for the Quidditch Cup. Rita Skeeter wrote a piece mentioning dad though."

"Did she really?" She couldn't help the grimace that appeared on her face. "I didn't renew my subscription to _The Daily Prophet._ I had no idea."

"He wasn't mentioned by name, but mum still had a lot to say about what was written. Mum was never really fond of Skeeter."

"Well, you read what she wrote about me, didn't she?" Ron looked a little guilty when he shook his head 'no.' "Well, she has a habit of publishing fictitious stories and skewing the facts to create an untrue image of whatever her next victim was." A silence started to lull between them and Hermione thought they might have asked about her time at the Manor, something Hermione didn't think she was willing to discuss. "How is your scar, Harry? Have you heard from Sirius?"

"It hasn't started to hurt again. Hedwig's never taken this long and I'm worried."

"We don't know where he's gone though." Hermione's hand moved from her necklace to rub her scarred brow. She had another nightmare last night and even though she kept the journal Harry gifted her last year by her bedside, she had been unsuccessful in capturing any details. "If he's gone far enough, Hedwig won't be able to make that trip a couple days." Hermione reassured him.

"He wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who?" Ron looked between his two best friends, thinking back to the Summer night that Harry had his nightmare along with the fact that Harry said his scar had only hurt like that when he faced Voldemort in their first year. "I mean — last time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?" Ron offered. "It could have just been a fluke."

"I'm sure he wasn't on Privet Drive," Harry had an almost haunted look on his face as he spoke. "But I was dreaming about him... him and Wormtail. I can't remember all of it now, but they were plotting to kill someone."

"It was only a dream," Ron dismissed. "Just a nightmare."

"Yeah, but was it, though?" said Harry, turning to look out of the window at the brightening sky. "It's weird, isn't it?... My scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again." Hermione continued to wonder about her own dreams. While she may not have been able to remember the details of the nightmares, she couldn't shake the feelings she felt afterwards. They were parallel to how she felt after a flashback.

"Don't say his name!" Ron hissed through gritted teeth, bringing Hermione back to the conversation before she could spiral into her thoughts.

"And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Harry went on, ignoring Ron. "At the end of last year?"

Hermione's concerned look vanished as she let out a snort. "Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?"

"You weren't there," he argued. "You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance — a real one. And she said the Dark Lord would rise again... _greater and more terrible than ever before_... and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him. Then that night Wormtail escaped." Hermione resisted the urge to groan as he quoted what Trelawney had said to him during his Divination exam last year. "Dumbledore believes me."

She thought back to what Draco had said about Dumbledore in the library. Even if he had the habit of keeping 'dark' information away from students, he was still a great wizard and their headmaster. If he felt that Trelawney was a true seer, there had to be a reason, right?

Before Hermione could fly into another rant on why she decided to take anything the Divination professor said with a grain of salt, the door to their compartment opened.

"Hey, Harry, Ron," Neville nodded at each of them with a smile. "Hermione."

"Hey, Neville." Hermione returned the friendly smile.

"Scoot, Nev." Ginny attacked his sides, causing him to let out an unflattering laugh as he stepped into their compartment. Ginny and Neville sat on the same side as Harry and Ron, while the petite blonde girl that accompanied them took the seat next to Hermione. The girl was already dressed in her Ravenclaw Robes and her ears were adorned with that were in the shape of some plant Hermione wasn't completely familiar with. In her hands, she held a magazine called _The Quibbler._ Hermione's memory was slowly being jogged the more she looked at the Ravenclaw girl's hair. She remembered the platinum color nearly rivaled Draco's, but her name continued to elude her.

The blonde's pale face split into a relaxed smile that was framed by two very pink lips. She had a dazed look on her face, but Hermione had the odd feeling nothing got past the keen gaze her hazel eyes held. "Luna. Luna Lovegood." Luna's voice somewhere between dreamy and airy, but what Hermione could say was that it was very pleasant.

_Yes! That's right! _"Or should I call you Baba Yaga?" Luna's smile widened as Hermione laughed at her own joke. She wasn't exactly sure _how_ she could forget the one person who had not dressed up as a deity, but as an old witch who walked around with a cauldron that had chicken legs at the bottom of it.

Then again, a lot had happened that night.

"She's misunderstood, don't you think?"

Hermione looked over at Ginny, Neville, Harry and Ron who seemed to be in a deep conversation about Quidditch already. "I'll admit I am not too familiar with folklore." She then looked back at Luna who now tilted her head to the side to better read the paperwork Hermione had on her lap.

"Starting a business?"

Hermione looked down at the Title to _Circe's Colander_. Hermione lifted the packet to reveal the another Title, but this one was for _Central Dental Care_. Lucius wasn't just blowing hot air when he said that Hermione and Draco were to start their 'shadowing' projects this year, and despite the lack of an immediate reaction on his part after she had been offended by both businesses, he had been _very_ busy behind the scenes on her behalf.

After she and Draco had played for Lucius and Narcissa, Lucius revealed that for the past couple of months, he had been buying out the two businesses that had come to hate. Hermione had been grossly reminded of the money the Malfoys had and their nearly flippant attitude to drop whatever galleons they needed to so they obtained what they wanted. She was in utter shock when he asked her to pick one and said she needed time to think about it. Lucius then informed that he understood, but warned the gifts came with a price. He was not just gifting her which ever business she chose, he fully expected her to slowly familiarize with the company so when she was of age, she would already be a business owner, just as Draco was to take over the family business. It was apparent that Lucius had picked up on her insecurity at _Circe's Colander_ when she asked if he suspected her to be a bad business owner and wanted to give her the opportunity to manage one, before giving her the option to work on a fundraiser instead.

"Something like that." Hermione admitted. She had removed the paperwork from her luggage to look it over, but she then got pulled into conversation with Harry and Ron. It _should_ have been an easy choice. Her parents _owned_ a Dentistry got goodness sake! They had even groomed her a little as they had expected her to take over before their fatal trip to France, but she was stuck on which business to choose from. "Do you... Like the _The Quibbler_? Everyone says it's just a load of rubbish, you know." Hermione reflected as she pulled the packets of legal paperwork to her chest so Luna could no longer look at them. She eyed the magazine with a raised eyebrow. On the front page, it had the the side profile of a veela and a leprechaun. The cover highlighted several different articles, one of them reading 'Griselda Marchbanks: Feminist or Foe?' Hermione's nose scrunched in distaste.

"I didn't think you were they type to listen to what everyone else said." Hermione looked up at Luna's face when she heard the dreamy quality of her voice dissipate. The dazed look was no longer on her face and her eyes were even more penetrating than they were before. "My father is the editor and I don't find it to be rubbish."

"Oh," Hermione was embarrassed. Even with none of her other friends noticing that she had just offended Luna, she felt her cheeks warm. "Well, I'm sure it's got... I mean, it's quite..."

Luna however was disinterested in what Hermione had to say and noisily flipped _The Quibbler_ open and held it up to her face, disappearing behind it. Hermione thought about pointing out that it was upside down, but didn't think there was a way Luna would not already know.

Hermione pursed her lips together as she turned back to the parchment in front of her. _I didn't think you were they type to listen to what everyone else said._ _Trelawney practically said the same thing about me last year, but why does it hurt more from someone most of the school refers to as _Loony _Lovegood?_

"_Ciao, Bella."_ The conversation ceased at once when the compartment door opened and Blaise Zabini's voice came in.

Hermione looked up to see that he was accompanied by Draco. She ignored how her heart skipped a beat seeing his gray eyes on her in spite of his bored front. "_Bonjour, mon beau ami._" Hermione said in return.

Blaise leaned against the door frame with a shoulder, one hand stuffed in his robe pocket as he playfully leered at Hermione. "When are you going to come sit with us?"

Hermione playfully rolled her eyes at him, but before she could answer, Ron had once again beat her to it. "Hermione doesn't sit with murderers."

"Ron!" Hermione's mouth was completely agape. The red head just gave her a severe look that almost seemed as if he was questioning why she was surprised he would say such a thing.

"Do you not read _The Prophet_?" Ginny rolled her eyes and inched closer to Harry when her brother's angry stare turned on her. "Zabini was her date to the Gala, Ron."

"_Wot?_" Hermione was starting to wonder if Ron's natural skin tone was actually some shade of red rather than the pale, freckled tones his siblings shared. "You can't be serious?" Hermione flexed her fingers before curling them into a fist, angry with both Ron and Ginny. Hermione suspected Ginny was purposefully being cold to her since entering their compartment, not bothering to say so much as a 'hello' before making conversation about Quidditch with Hermione's friends, but she chalked it up to it being a figment of her imagination. Looking at Ginny's body language reacting to every move Harry had made though, had her thinking otherwise. "What are you doing hanging around with their lot? His mother has murdered eight-"

"Key words are '_his mother_', Ron! You don't have the right to attack people for what their parents have done - _if_ they've even done them." Hermione added. She noticed the smell of smoke first before she saw her hands were burning to the point they were smoking. "She was at the gala and I doubt the Ministry would let a serial killer walk free, you know."

"Why are you defending them?" Hermione's eyes snapped to Ginny's who was now openly glaring right at Hermione. "Malfoy's family has literally ruined my life and Zabini's mom is no different." Hermione scoffed, but this only irked Ginny. "Do you hear yourself? You're even _scoffing_ and acting as if your breeches are made of Mokeskin. You're as much of a Malfoy as he is!" Ginny was pointing at Draco, who Hermione noticed was now in Blaise's place under the doorway, the Italian pressed against his back, trying to get in.

Hermione was beyond words at this point and Neville tried to take control of the situation. "Ginny, perhaps we should go back to our compartment."

Hermione saw that Ginny was about to unleash her rage on to him next, but Harry, who _never_ put himself into a row he was not directly involved in, spoke up. "Sounds like a good idea." Harry met Hermione's stunned face. "I'd rather you not set the train on fire." Hermione placed her smoldering fists into her lap so she could focus better on bringing her self back into a more stable state. _Why do emotions have to be so bloody exhausting?_

"Let's go, Blaise." Hermione didn't let her focus break when she heard Draco speak softly to their Slytherin friend, but she did when Draco tried to get one last jab in with Ron, which she expected was the real reason why he had stopped by. "Nice robes, Weasley." Draco was eyeing the hand-me-down lace dress robes that Ron draped over his owl, Pigwigeon, Sirius had gifted him last year.

"Get _out_!" Hermione snapped. A look flitted across Draco's face, but he quickly slipped back into his unperturbed mask.

Soon after the Slytherins had disappeared, Neville, Ginny and Luna soon followed. Hermione didn't understand _why_ Ginny was behaving balefully towards her. Sure, the red head was hot headed like her brothers, but rarely did she act with such intense abhorrence when unprovoked. _Especially_ not towards Hermione.

"Looks like that Ravenclaw girl left her magazine."

Hermione looked over to the seat to her left and saw Harry was right.

She picked up the magazine and flipped through its pages, not really focusing on anything in particular.

"'Mione," Ron started. She didn't look up, but she could tell he was still trying to fight the anger he felt off so he could talk to her. "I just don't want to see you get caught up -"

"I can make that decision myself, Ronald." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. She looked him in the eyes to make sure that her words would be understood. "I thought I had told you last year that I am _not _Ginny. I do not need you to dictate who I will and will not be friends with." He opened his mouth, but Hermione leaned forward, finger in his face. She hardly ever mimicked her mother's vicious stance, but Harry and Ron both knew it well enough that her word was about to be law. "I'm going to tell you what I have told Draco. I am going to be friendly with both of you. If you can not respect that, then we will _not_ be friends."

Ron and Harry both exchanged a look, completely gobsmacked. "You've known us longer -"

"Friendship isn't about how long you have known each other, it's about what you two have been through together!" She could feel her anger starting to frizz up her hair. "Draco has been there for me on the anniversary of my parents' death. He had been there for when I can not eat or feel like I can't breathe because the weight of the world is crushing me, I-" Her heart was pouring out her pent of feelings and she felt a strong need to reign it all back in before she said something that she was going to regret. "He's a friend! I'm not asking _you_ to be friends with him, just respect that _I _will be!"

Neither of them spoke when she decided she was done. just stared at them, panting with her hands outstretched, but no longer smoking. "I'm returning this to Lovegood." She traded the stack of parchment in her lap for _The Quibbler_ she had thrown to the side in her rant.

"Hermione," Ron tried, but she ignored him as she walked into the corridor of the Hogwarts Express.

The compartment door adjacent to hers clicked closed at the same time she slammed hers shut. She knew the occupants heard everything that she had yelled, just as she had heard their earlier conversation about Draco almost attending Durmstrang.

* * *

Hermione's stomach grumbled as she walked up the staircase to Gryffindor tower, arms crossed over her chest. Hogwarts: A History_? More like _Hogwarts: A Highly Biased and _Selective_ History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School_!_ _Not once does that blasted book even _mention _house elves! _In the moment that Nearly Headless Nick revealed there were over one hundred house elves at Hogwarts, she decided to go on strike. Ron had made several weak attempts at trying to convince her to eat as it was the welcome _feast_, but she refused to consume anything that was a product of _slave labor_, as she had reminded him. _Perhaps I should owl Lucius. He said that he wouldn't of had minded to send Harry food, maybe -_

"We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?" George was extremely bent out of shape about the new restriction that was put in place for the Triwizard Tournament.

"They're not stopping me entering," said Fred stubbornly, who was also scowling as they walked. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

Hermione, Harry, and Ron followed Fred and George up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione thought that maybe listening to what her friends speculated about the Triwizard Tournaments would take her mind off of her hunger.

"Yeah," said Ron, a faraway look on his face. "Yeah, a thousand Galleons..."

She looked over at him and shook her head seeing the dreamy expression he held. She didn't say anything though. She wasn't entirely cross with him anymore as he seemed to be in a calm enough mood when she returned to their compartment, but he didn't apologize either, so she was still annoyed.

"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" Harry asked her, assuming she had heard something about it, but Fred answered.

"Dunno," said Fred, "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple of drops of Aging Potion might do it, George."

"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though," said Ron.

"Yeah, but he's not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" said Fred shrewdly. "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."

"You don't honestly think that Dumbledore is just going to stand by and let under aged students join a dangerous tournament after he went out of the way with the other Headmasters and the Ministry to change the rules?" Fred and George stopped to look back at her with a face that said that they obviously were going to try, regardless of what Dumbledore thought. "People have died, though!" Hermione threw her hands in front of her in irritation.

Fred led them through a door concealed behind a tapestry and started up another more narrow staircase. "Yeah," said Fred airily, "but that was years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, where's the fun without a bit of risk? Hey, Ron, what if we find out how to get 'round Dumbledore? Fancy entering?"

"What d'you reckon?" Ron asked Harry. "Be cool to enter, wouldn't it?" He paused at that and Hermione watched in horror as the dreamy smile widened on his face. "I might go in for it. If you two find out how to get past the judge."

"You will _not_!" The pitch of Hermione's shrilly cry brought Ron out of his day dream and caused everyone to turn to look at her once more when they reached the top of the staircase.

"_Balderdash_."

"George -" Hermione started to round on him, but he put his hands in the air as if to say he meant no harm. "It's the password, a prefect told me downstairs." Hermione watched the fat lady's portrait swing open beside her, and stepped back, not realizing this hidden staircase had left them so close to their common room.

"'Mione," She looked up to see Ron looking slightly frustrated, but making an effort to hold back his feelings. "If I can't comment on your friend choices then you you can't comment on my _life_ choices."

Hermione's mouth opened several times at that, unsure of what to say as Harry and the twins hurried into the common room to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Seeing she was alone in her argument, she puffed up her chest and stuck her nose in the air. "Fine, just know that whatever plan you decide to follow, is _not going to work_." She said the last part in a sing-song tone.

She expected Ron to rub it in that he had won their argument, but instead he seemed to sober up. "Gin is right, you know. You do sorta act like them."

While Hermione stood staring at him, completely speechless, he stood there awkwardly. After shifting his weight and twisting his lips to the side as he often did when he did something outside of his comfort zone, he climbed inside, the portrait clicking closed behind him. _How am I acting any different than I had before?_ _No - he's just saying that because that's what he wants to see._ Hermione reached for the closed portrait, her eyebrows scrunched together as she thought about how she was right and Ron _had_ to be wrong.

"Unhand me this instant!" Hermione jumped back hearing the Fat Lady reprimand her. "Password please!"

Hermione pointed to the opening she knew would be behind the portrait. "I was just with -"

"Password!" The Fat Lady stood with her hands on her hips, determined to remain unmovable unless she heard the one word that would make her open.

Hermione huffed. "_Balderdash_." She said in a mocking tone. The Fat Lady, used to Hermione being kind even after being chastised by her, flung open for the teen to be admitted with a loud sniff. _Oh_, Hermione felt some guilt sink in seeing the portraits reaction. _Maybe I do act like Draco a little._

* * *

Hermione had a plan.

She tried not sprint down the hall so she could get to the library quicker, but she found it hard to put a stopper on her excitement as she raced down the cobblestone halls their first day of classes, her belly full from scarfing down lunch. _Maybe Lucius is right and I have a better skill set for fundraisers and organizations of the like._ She could see the double doors of the Hogwarts library now. _I just need to_ -

A hand grabbed her robe sleeve and yanked her back. She was reaching for her wand, a bat-boogey hex on the tip of her tongue, but she stopped when she saw that it was Draco who grabbed her. "I don't like chasing people, Granger."

Hermione felt the corners of her lips pull up slightly seeing him again. "Whatever you say, _Malfoy_." The surname that fell from her lips felt as awkward as a new born deer trying to stand on its legs. _Malfoy_ was the name of a stranger, _Draco_ was the name of the handsome friend she had an intense crush on. Hermione glanced around and saw they were alone. "Tell me you have a free period next, too." She froze for a moment, and frowned. "Actually, no. Perhaps I need to research this myself, make sure it's something I want to do first - Oh, but of course I want to. I just don't know anything about it so there will be so much research!. I don't even know where to start especially if I have to refuse Lucius the businesses -"

_She's so cute when she's flustered._ "You sound mental right now, I hope you know that." Draco took in her appearance with a smile of his own. She always looked so prim and proper in her Gryffindor uniform. He had thought it was a good look for her, but now – especially after another heated dream he had of her recently – he thought that she looked quite _fit_ in the arrangement of her house colors. Draco eyes snapped up to her face as he thought of the way he had raked her skirt higher on her leg in his dream. _Focus._ "You need to pick one though, father won't let you refuse." Draco had also been sent off to Hogwarts with his own stack of paperwork to sift through, more numbers than anything else as he was already well versed in his family's business background.

Hermione bit her lip. "You - Well, can I ask you for your perspective on something?"

_Keep biting your lip like that and I'll let you ask me anything._ "I think we should head to our study table if we're to keep talking." Draco nodded his head to the heavy double doors of the library.

"Right." Hermione turned on her heel to lead them into the library, but before she could do so, there was a loud _clunk_ before she ran in to something very solid, causing her to bounce back on to Draco. "Oh!"

When Hermione looked up to see who she had ran into, she had to stifle a gasp. She had seen him at the welcoming feast, but seeing him up close without any warning was a different experience of its own.

The clunk was from the metal leg Mad-Eye- Moody wore after he had lost the bottom half of his actual leg sometime in his career as an Auror. The man smelled of leather, which Hermione assumed was the source of the strong scent and his face was covered in scars. His most distinct disfigurements were the chunk of cartilage missing from his nose along with a gash over his false eye. The iris of it was a silvery blue that reminded Draco of Narcissa.

"You're not harassing this young lady are ya, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Moody's magicked eye was as large as a Knut and it moved without blinking. It seemed to have scanned Hermione, but now it was rolling up, down, and even side to side over Draco's person.

A surprised sound hitched in Draco's throat. "No, sir."

Hermione remembered Ron and Harry talking about Moody. He was a friend of Arthur's and a respected retired Ministry Auror – even though he was made fun of by several officials for his paranoia. On paper, Hermione thought he would make for an interesting Defense Against Dark Arts teacher this year, if not a better one than Lupin. After her Summer experience with Aurors though, she was slightly protective of Draco. She wouldn't stand by this time if Moody tried to harass him like Crouch, Sr. had. "He's a friend, sir." Moody looked down at Hermione at that, but only with his normal eye. The blue one stayed on Draco at all times, even when it acted as if it wanted to move on its own volition. She refused to back down, physically or verbally.

"Are you sure about that Miss?" Somehow with half his nose missing, he managed to sniff. "You don't have to lie -"

"Quite." Her reply was short and Hermione was reminded of Ron's teasing last year when he commented on her streak of getting aggressive with teachers. "His family adopted me over a year ago now. There would be no reason for us not to be cordial."

Moody appeared to literally swallow that truth. "Well then you best run along now. Next period will be starting soon."

Hermione didn't thank Professor Moody as she looped her arm around Draco and dragged him towards the library. Right before they entered though, Draco threw his arms around her neck to hug her. With their height difference, she was immediately swallowed into his robes as her head hardly peaked over his shoulders. She laughed and when he pulled away, he ruffled her high ponytail, causing the brushed out curls to fly everywhere. "Draco! What are you doing?" She was slightly bewildered at the sudden display of affection.

"I like having a teacher's pet as a friend is all."

"Teacher's pet? He didn't even know my name."

Draco shrugged. "Maybe not now, but he will. You have him on Thursday, I assume?" Draco pulled open the library door for her, but stayed hidden so he could enter several minutes later so they were not seen arriving at the same time.

"Me, Ron, and Harry." She grinned as he made a face. After receiving his timetable this year, he was starting to agree that perhaps Hogwarts emphasized pinning rival houses too much, making it harder to make friends outside of their houses.

"Don't make me sick, I just ate lunch."

Hermione gave a slight shake of her head just as the bell rang. She didn't look back as she walked, although she wanted to. As she tucked a stray lock behind her ear, she couldn't help but think about the night of the Quidditch cup. Somewhere between then and now, she had shoved the memory of what happened after they danced away. In part, she did not want to think about what ruined the small, freeing moment, but another part of her was genuinely confused if she had been wrong about Draco seeing her as family or if he really meant to kiss her that night. As she set her books down, she entertained they idea of taking a _very_ Gryffindor route and asking, but decided against it.

* * *

_I can't believe I bloody ran out of a lecture_ again. _Even Neville stayed. _Hermione was seated with her back pressed against the stone wall of the hallway she was currently seated in. She sat that way, eyes unfocused to the world before her for what she figured may have been minutes before someone approached her. Even though a part of her was aware of their presence, it took her several moments to ground herself to return to the front seat of her mind and look at him. Dissociating could be tricky, but she tried to never return to the point where she was walking up the flight of stairs of the Astronomy tower again.

When she saw it was Draco who had followed her out of class, her throat tightened, rendering her unable to speak without bursting into tears.

She closed her eyes, trying to force out the last moments she spent in the first lesson of Professor Moody's class of the year. She willed herself to forget how the engorged tailless scorpion writhed under the control of the cruciatus curse.

_"_ _Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that." Moody barked after he clapped his gnarled palms together. "I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen?"_

Hermione's eyes watered at the memory. _I can't even watch a _spider _be tortured. Why am I so weak?_ Hermione pressed the balls of her palms into her eye sockets. _Even Neville stayed!_ Granted, he was the one to cry out to beg Moody to stop, but only after he noticed her panicked breathing and shaking hands as images of her and Lucius on the ground at the manor flooded her head.

"Is there anything I can do to help you right now?" His voice was low and sweet as he placed a hand over hers.

Hermione pulled her hand away, but only because she was afraid her senses were bordering the line of overstimulated. She ran a hand over her head as she thought of all the things she would do for some calming draught. "You left the classroom. Everyone will think we're friends."

Draco gave her a half smile. "You think I didn't make a scene before exiting about how my father would hear about an ex-Auror teaching forth years unforgivables despite their macabre nature?"

Hermione thought her world would tilt with how fast she looked up at Draco. "You didn't." Draco simply raised an eyebrow at her, a silent request for her to attempt to call his bluff. "You did! Oh, I can't believe you. He's absolutely terrifying!" Hermione wasn't sure if she was delighted at what he did to check on her or horrified that he had openly disrespected _another_ teacher.

_Why are you so kind?_ She wanted to ask as she searched his face, looking for a tell on how he felt. _Am I family to you or a genuine girl in your eyes?_

He shrugged a shoulder, completely unperturbed at the second scene he caused in their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the year. "So is Hagrid and I still threatened him last year." His nose wrinkled and his pulled down in an intense grimace. "I might do it again if I get bit, stung, or burned with a blast ended skrewt."

Hermione found herself groaning at being reminded of the armored slug like creatures Hagrid presented them with this year. "Once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all." Draco laughed harder than he thought he would at that. He was going to offer to help her up, thinking she was okay again, but then he caught her looking troubled once more. "Did I scream when he cast that curse on me? Or was I just as silent as that spider?" Hermione's eyes met Draco's. Hers was filled with questions that seemed to beg his for answers he thought he didn't have. "I wasn't able to hear myself. When it happened at the manor, I mean."

Draco's mouth dropped open with the smallest of _pops_. _What can I say? Yes, you were screaming bloody murder_ or _no, you were silent the entire time?_

Before he could decide on what to say, the bell rung announcing the end of their period, and Hermione took it as a cue to get back to her feet. "You should go before we're seen together." He stared at her a moment longer before snapping out of the stupor she had sent him into.

Draco couldn't help, but feel that as he walked away, he was making another wrong decision. He was choosing to take her permission of dismissal when he felt he had not done anything to help her feel better. Memories of her face as they crossed on to Platform 9 and 3/4 coupled with the memory of when she was performing magic with the Ministy's standardized auror wand made their home in the for front of his mind. He felt like a coward for walking away from her now and he reflected on what Blaise had said when Draco confided in him by the Black Lake on their first day of term:

_Blaise stared at the water, not saying anything for a breath after Draco had caught him up on his feelings in regards to the World Cup, the two Aurors who first visited the manor, and his guilt regarding Hermione. "In Italy we have a saying: _Una buona mamma vale cento maestre_. It means 'A good mother is worth a hundred teachers'. We do not have a saying for the mother who raise children with 'tough love'. Or fathers in your situation."_

_"I don't have a bad mother." Draco snapped. There were a few things he had expected from his introspective friend, but an attack on his mother was not one of them. Draco also would not stand for it._

_Blaise let his head loll to the side so he could properly glower at Draco. Draco said nothing as he maintained eye contact, but seeing his friend completely stolid was eerie. "That's not what I said." Draco then looked towards the Black Lake, unwilling to show remorse for coming off aggressive. "We will always be a product of our parents – whether they are present or not. It is up to us though on how much of a product we want to be. And _that _is all I will say." Draco looked back at his friend, but Blaise simply stood, making sure the message that the conversation was over had been well read._

It had annoyed Draco that Blaise did not offer him more advise, but had forgotten he was taught not to rely on others to help with your problems. This summer had been an eye-opener for him and he could no longer ignore the ways of his parents. _Never again._ He vowed. He would do better, learn what kind of product he was and protect himself along with Hermione. Even if that meant keeping her at arms length. He made his decision that the attempt at kissing her was a mistake and that he needed to get over his crush on her.

"Malfoy."

Before Draco could turn to face who had snarled his name, Theo and Crabbe had shoved him into an empty classroom, with Goyle right behind them to lock the door. Draco immediately dropped his bag and rolled up his sleeves. He fought Crabbe before, and while the boy was wide, he was sluggish, just like Goyle – his taller counterpart. It was Theo he thought he needed to take out first, as the boy's willowy frame was similar to Draco's when it came to packing a punch.

Later, Draco would not pin point the duel that followed to be the moment he realized that he was Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black's son, but it would be the cementation of the fact. When he pulled out his wand, ready to defend himself against three vengeful Slytherins, he felt a confidence that was bone deep. He made peace knowing that resistance to thinking he could be anything other than the cut throat Malfoy heir that he was taught to be would be futile.

And Hermione? _She doesn't deserve to settle for anyone like that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am not sure if I made it clear at the Gala, but Pansy is half Indian (Asian Indian.) I planned on revealing her relationship to the Patil twins at the Gala, but it was something that had gotten taken out. In the event someone wanted clarification: She is their first cousin as Pansy's mom and the Patil twin's mother are sisters.
> 
> I hope this has not been too confusing as I know she is not related to them in canon.
> 
> ALSO DON'T HATE ME FOR POSTING EARLY PLEASE. Next update is 11/1/20.


	42. Year Four: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 42 Recap: Pansy Parkinson does not see Draco as a romantic interest. Hogwarts express ft. a wormhole, a frustrated Ginny and a quirky Luna. Ron is comparing Hermione to Draco. Hermione defends Draco in front of Professor Moony. Hermione runs out of Professor Moody's class when crucio was cast on the arachnid. Draco offers her rushed comfort before he is jumped by Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle.
> 
> A/N: Friendly reminder that dialogue and scenes from the books are used in this fanfiction.

Hermione stared up at the ceiling of her four-poster bed. Draco seemed to be the first thought of her day and the last thought of her night. She wondered if she had been cursed as her mind seemed to mentally replay the night they danced, but with a rewritten memory where they had actually kissed before the shamrock covered tent behind her had blown up.

_Oh, stop with the torture! He wasn't trying to kiss you. Probably just had a bug in your hair or something on your face. After all, there were beetles crawling all over the stadium._ Hermione scowled at the dark wood that seemed to be framed by the rich, Gryffindor red curtains at her current angle. Deciding she needed to get up and leave daydreams behind, she haphazardly threw the covers off of her as she got to her feet, burying Crookshanks in the process. He hissed in reply and Hermione pulled the covers back to peer at his grumpy face. Deciding to amuse herself one last time before heading off to class, she kissed her half-kneazle on the forehead. "There you go, now I don't have to worry about kissing any other boys."

"Kissing boys?" Lavender's head popped out of the curtains of her own Hogwarts standard four-poster bed.

"Who's kissing boys?" Parvati's head popped out from underneath Lavender's.

Hermione would have laughed at the display if she had not been so horrified at being overheard by the two biggest busybodies in her house. "No one!"

"Poppycock." Lavender threw her curtains open and Hermione could see that Lavender and Parvati were surrounded by magazines – all of them being Muggle. It was a tradition the two best friends had: Go home for the holidays, stock up on as many Muggle magazines as they could, then spend weeks in each other's bed, scrutinizing every single cloth, trend, or celebrity. Eyeing the magazines, Hermione started to rummage through her drawers to collect her uniform, silently implying she had places to be. The last time she had been around Lavender and Parvati when they were looking at the magazines, they all but pinned her down and hexed her in to agreeing that she let them give her a make over. "Don't hold out on us, 'Mioneee -"

"Don't call me that." Hermione snapped. She still wasn't entirely fond of the nickname despite getting used to Harry and Ron using it, and she was not going to allow two teens call her it when how friendly they acted towards others was subject to how good of a hair day they were having.

Instead of getting offended, Lavender leaned forward in interest. "It's Harry or Ron, isn't it?"

"What? No!" Hermione stopped looking for clothes, swiveling to face Lavender and Parvati.

"Oh, look, Lav!" Parvati's rich voice was filled with mirth and her eyes were bright with the same excitement that Lavender felt. "Her face is so red! She's blushing!"

"I am not!" Hermione denied, but she still placed a hand to her face to find it warm to the touch.

Lavender was amused to see Hermione completely flustered. "Is it Malfoy? I could see the swoty bookworm being into the dodgy type -"  
"_WOT_? No! It's Harry! I fancy Harry!" Hermione panicked and said the first name she could spit out. There were three collective gasps that sounded in the dorm: One from Lavender, one from Parvati, and one from behind her.

Hermione turned around to see that Ginny was standing in the fourth year dorm room. She occasionally visited Hermione to see if the older Gryffindor wanted to walk down to breakfast together, and it was the first time she had attempted to do so this year. _No_.

When Hermione's brown eyes met the blue ones of her younger friend, she watched Ginny's face morph into the stern one that she wore before she had hexed someone. Instead of drawing her wand on Hermione though, Ginny turned on her heel and sped down the stairs.

"Ginny! -" Hermione started after her, but Parvati's voice stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that. She's bound to pull her wand on you." Hermione stopped at the doorway, considering telling Parvati to shove off, but she knew she was probably right. "It's going to make her insanely jealous, especially since you and Harry are always together."

Hermione walked back to her bed before sinking on to the edge of her mattress.

"Does it still count as a love triangle if four people are involved?"

"Four?" While Hermione did not see eye to eye with Lavender on Divination, she had not thought her housemate was incapable to count properly. She _was_ taking Arithmancy after all due to its close relationship to Divination.

"Ginny, Harry, you, and _Ron_." Lavender flicked her wrist so her palm was face up as is to say 'obviously.' "Don't sit there and act like you didn't know."

Hermione's face only reddened from being treated as if someone else knew something about her best friend that she didn't, but she was saved from answering by Parvati when she nudged Lavender's thigh with her fingers. "Oh please, you only noticed it because _you_ fancy Ron."

Hermione started to argue that it was completely absurd that Ron had a crush on her, but then she realized that it couldn't have been _that_ absurd:

_"Oh, heavens no." Percy gave a nervous laugh. "It's my brother's best friend. One that _he _fancies." Hermione's face scrunched up at Percy's words, wondering why he felt the need to become so defensive, until he provided the reason himself. "I prefer my love interests to have a bit more of ahhh... a heritage to them, in a manner of speaking."_

She had been so caught up in Percy insulting Muggleborns at the Gala that she had not fully processed that he had outed Ron's crush on her. Hermione gripped her face as she stared at the floor, remembering several other occurrences it was blatantly _obvious_, but she treated the faces with complete disregard. "Oh, no."

"It's not that bad, Hermione." Hermione looked up at Parvati, noting how Lavender was as red as she was. "At least you have _taste_, crushing on the chosen one." Parvati frowned. "If you and Ginny are close enough friends, you will both get over it." Parvati placed a finger on her chin in thought. "I wonder who will decide to be brave and bold first though. Especially with the Yule Ball coming up."

Lavender glanced up at Parvati then, "I do hope that Ron will ask me."

Hermione stared at the two girls in front of her who had dissolved into giggles, heads close together before they turned back to their magazines. _Of course they find this to be as entertaining as a teen soap._ She doubted she could ask Parvati what she should do as it was obvious she wanted to see this play out naturally. Hermione found herself running her thumb over the edges of her ring as she thought of the moments she and Draco shared at the manor. _Calm_ moments of reading, studying or playing together. She bit her lip as she found herself wishing she was in his comforting presence again.

_Be brave and be bold? With his smoldering gray eyes that practically make my knees buckle if I stare at them too long? It'll never happen._

* * *

When Hermione had finally made it to her first class, she tried not to dwell too much on the fact that Draco did not show to their Arithmancy class. Spending almost sixty days together had her just as in tune with his presence as she was with Harry and Ron, so every noise she heard, she found herself glancing at the door to see if he would walk in. By the time she got to their second class together on that Friday morning, she was worried, but was unable to secure a seat next to Blaise to ask if he knew anything on Draco's whereabouts.

"This term, we will be studying the Younger Futhark runes. Who can tell me how they differ from the Elder Futhark Runes?"

Hermione had been so focused on figuring how she would be able to approach Blaise after the lecture, had not noticed Professor Babbling approaching the front of the classroom. Even then, she was the only person to raise her hand to answer the question. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"The Elder Folk runes have twenty-four characters and is used to write Proto-Norse while the Younger Futhark was reduced to sixteen characters for use when Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse."

"Splendid! I am happy to hear that someone did their Summer reading." The professor looked over the rest of the class before turning to the board, manually writing out a sentence with chalk. "Now for twenty house points," Hermione's back straightened as if the good posture would help her see better. She might not have considered house points to be of the highest priority, but she still liked to stroke her competitive side and gather as many as she could for Gryffindor. "Can you tell me what this says?"

"Yes, ma'am." Hermione opened her mouth to read what was on the chalk board, but as soon as she focused, her vision blurred. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, but it only made her vision blur even more. _Do I need glasses?_ She was seated far from the front as she knew Draco did not like sitting at the forefront of any lecture, but now that he had not showed up, she was panicked thinking she would need to make a scene of moving her seat.

Hermione looked at the back of Terry Boot's head, a boy who was in Ravenclaw, but she saw the details of his shaggy hair perfectly. She looked over at Professor Babbling's desk and could read the title of the book the professor had magically floating in the air for her to return to once she sat down without an issue. "Miss Granger? Can you read what's on the board?" Several of her classmates chairs creaked as they turned to look at her. Hermione heard a snicker or two, but she refused to look at anyone else as she stared at the board with growing concern. _Why can't I read it? I can see everything else at a distance just fine._

"I - No." There were several more snickers from Ravenclaws, but she didn't say a word in retaliation, as she was too concerned about why she could not read her instructor's writing. _Maybe she just put up a glamour so I couldn't...?_ But that didn't make much sense to Hermione either. When Professor Babbling continued the lesson without mentioning any extra enchantments, Hermione's suspicion of being wrong was confirmed.

Hermione withdrew her year four Runes textbook from the bag Lucius had gifted her and opened it to the back of the book where the practice phrases were, only to find she couldn't read a single one. _Am I losing my ability to use magic?_ She placed a hand over the wand that was still holstered in her sleep, finding solace in the thrumming waves of magic that reacted to her touch. _No, no, don't be stupid, Hermione. Muggles can still _read _runes._ There was a spark of pain and Hermione rubbed at her scar on her brow as a burning sensation started. It didn't help – if anything it made the pain worse as it got to the point her right eye was watering.

As Hermione rubbed at her agitated eye, she noticed that the runes were slightly more clear. Feeling some hope that she was getting closer to determining what her issue was, she lifted the tome to her face. The more she stared, the more her eyes watered from the increasing pain. Finally, her focus gave way to a sensation of something bursting open with a loud pop after after it had been pulled at for so long in her head. The feeling wasn't physical, nor was it mental.

It was magical.

She had only a few seconds of joyous reprieve before the burst of pain had her dropping her book loudly on to the wooden desk, causing the disruption in the classroom she had already been worried about starting, as she clutched her face. "Miss Gra-"

"INeedToGoToTheInfirmaryProfessor,ThankYou!" Keeping one hand on her face, she hurriedly stuffed the Runes book into her bag and zipped it closed, attempting to rush out of the classroom before she cried out in front of her stunned classmates from the pain.

Hermione was thankful that Professor Babbling's classroom was on the same floor of the hospital wing as it made for a quick traveling time. Something she was grateful for as tears streamed down her red face. This type of headache was the worst it had ever been. She had never had the _entire_ right side of her face hurt to the point her jaw was tightly clenched from fear of moving it and she hoped that Madam Pomfrey would be able to give her relief. Hermione was staring to entertain the idea that her pain was not normal. It was something she thought she should have realized before as her parents being physicians, always told her to be critical of any aches and pains as she should never assume the cause.

Hermione angrily kicked open the doors and ignored the beds that were taken up by Crabbe and Goyle. She hardly spared them a glance as she took a seat in an empty bed that was diagonal to Goyle's bed so they would not have to stare at each other. _Honestly, of all the times this could happen -_

"What's wrong, dear?" Madam Pomfrey was already approaching her, wand in one hand, skirts gathered in the other. "A panic attack already?"

Hermione would have frowned at the healer's tone if she wasn't in immense pain. She didn't understand how a medical professional could talk about mental health as if it was a bother to everyone around her. "No ma'am." Hermione said through gritted teeth, "I suspect a migraine, maybe?" While the intensity of her affliction was on par with a migraine, she had never experienced one so concentrated before.

"Lets fix you up with a pain potion then." Madam Pomfrey turned on her heal to return to her office where she kept her potions.

Hermione wanted to nod or speak her thanks, but soon she was rolling over on to her side right, trying to fight off the waves of throbbing pain that was starting to make its way down her neck and shoulder.

"_I can't keep you out of my sight for a day without you getting hurt, can I?_" Recognizing the drawling, yet amused French voice, Hermione rolled on to her left side to see Draco occupying a bed, two down from her own.

Concern filled her, and with Hermione's one good eye, she looked over his body only to see his left arm had been injured _again_. He held it in the same position as he had to last year when he needed to some of the soft tissue and muscle back. Hermione heard Madam Pomfrey's footsteps approaching before the red potion appeared in her line of vision again. "Drink up."

Hermione did as she was told, as she was aware the pain was starting to engulf the entirety of her skull. _Maybe it really was just a migraine._ Hermione closed her eyes as the edges of her headache started to dull. It wasn't completely ebbing away as fast as it usually would after taking a pain potion, but she was grateful. By the time she was able to comfortable un-clench her jaw, there was a slight ache in it. She placed one hand on her cheek, horrified at the looks her parents would have given her if she suspected she picked up the habit of grinding her teeth. Hermione opened her left eye and lifted her head slowly, still not sure if she trusted the right eye to not flare up again as she looked over Draco.

He was staring at her intently and under his cocky mask that was made to let the world think he owned it, she knew he was concerned. She just _understood_ Draco. "What are you doing here_?_" She found it foolish that she had not thought to check the infirmary before heading to Runes.

Draco's face hardened as his eyes slid over to Crabbe and Goyle. Considering that he had faced three Slytherins, he considered himself the victor despite Nott being the first one to leave the hospital wing with minimal injuries. "Nottand these two cunts -_"_

Hermione sucked in a sharp breath, "language!"

Draco continued without skipping a beat, despite Hermione's reprimand. "Shoved me into a classroom in an attempt to rough me up."

"_What?_" Hermione sat up, her eyes flicking between the two Slytherins sitting across from her and Draco before searching the rest of the hospital for Nott. "Are you okay? Where is Th - Nott?"

"Bastard got off with nothing but a broken nose_._" Draco was nearly snarling, his eyes still not having left a nervous Crabbe who seemed to have learned not to mess with Draco after earning a broken foot. Goyle was admitted into the Infirmary as he had had been hit with two confundus charms as he had inadvertently got in the way of Nott and Draco who were attempting to hex each other. "He dislocated my dueling arm before Filch finally heard us._"_

Her headache had finally dissipated and she sat up with a glare fixed on the two dim witted Slytherins before her. "Is that so?" Hearing the danger in her voice Crabbe looked at her with a mix of disgust and fear on his face. He was aware that he was alone right now as Goyle's last two brain cells had been blasted off to Godric-knows-where after the double confundus attack. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she shook her head, switching back to speaking in French for privacy. "_You know, I was thinking of letting Nott go -_"

"_You're not serious_? _He drugged you!_" She flinched back at how loud Draco had briefly gotten, but more from the pain that ricocheted inside of her skull due to his yelling.

"_I said I _was _considering_ _it." _She made sure all syllabus and consonants were enunciated, implying she was not happy with the volume of his voice in the slightest. "_But I don't think that will be happening._" Hermione did a mental checklist of the projects she had already started. There was only the currently unnamed _big_ one that was regarding the house elves – Possibly a business, but she had yet to hear back from Lucius on what she had dubbed as a 'counter offer.' Hermione glanced up at Draco, her mischievous grin present on her face. "You're still wanting to help out, aren't you?"

* * *

Dr. Augsen regarded Hermione with an excited look, hoping to hear progress on her dreams. She still had not approved a higher dose in dreamless sleep draught for her and had even strengthened the protean and variable sticking charms she placed on the vial racks. They would alert her if Hermione tried to take more than she was prescribed. "Have we made any leeway on your dreams?" _If she naturally starts to remember, then maybe -_

"No," Hermione made a show of throwing both hands in the air as she yawned and arched her back. "I am, however, not sleeping thanks to the nightmares. I would very much like it if you could help me Dr. Augsen." Her shoulders slumped forward when she was done and Hermione rubbed at her eyes, drawing attention to the dark shades beneath them. "I have trusted you with trying to discover what these dreams mean, but I think it's rather obvious that my mind just doesn't want to remember my dreams."

_Oh, I do I believe it's quite the opposite. _Dr. Augsen held back a sigh as she remembered the recent research she had been doing on oblivation and other memory charms. _I know her magic is fighting his hold on her. Her aptitude for magic is unmatched by her peers and between the attack on Fudge and her being crucio'd..._

_I'll really have to take measures into my own hands for it to completely unravel._

"All right. You know that all I ever ask you to do is try." Dr. Augsen pulled out the script that she would need to add into Hermione's file and signed it. "However, since I am doing this, I will ask that you keep the journal by your bedside in the event there are any more breakthrough nightmares and you just so happen to recall something." Dr. Augsen slipped the script back into her journal before removing the vials of Dreamless Sleep Draught she had brought with her, knowing it was a possibility she would have needed to resort to this level of deceit. "Since we are changing your usual dosage, I ask that you do more introspective meditation." Hermione breathed a visible sigh of relief being passed the new vials as Dr. Augsen summoned the old ones from Hermione's nightstand. The blonde woman felt a pang of guilt at seeing the teen genuinely happy.

"Should I continue to practice occlumency, then?" Hermione held the vials to the enchanted flame hanging in the middle of Professor McGonagall's office as if she had the eye of a potions master. She noted that the liquid was a shade lighter than her current dose, but credited the slight color difference to the possible increase in Flobberworm Mucus that was found in most sleeping potions. Hermione's interest in potions temporarily surged after her therapist denied to increase her dose a second time, as she was considering brewing her own dreamless sleep draught if Dr. Augsen did not comply with her request.

"I think everyone should practice occlumency," Hermione eyes fell back on Dr. Augsen's impassive face. "But perhaps one thing at a time this year? If your skill is too strong, it could contribute to your lack of sleep." That technically wasn't a lie, but the healer refused to go into detail on _how_ that could be.

Hermione thought about the projects she was already working on, burning candle light in the library just as she did last year for the excessive amount of classes she put herself through. "Perhaps."

Dr. Augsen didn't question Hermione's tone or smile. She simply flipped open the journal once more to peer at the script that already had Marchbanks' approval on it, reminding herself that she was doing the right thing by _decreasing_ how strong the dreamless sleep draught was.

Her research said so.

* * *

"Excuse me? Madam Pince?"

The old crone slowly turned to face Hermione, a frown appeared to permanently live on her face. Between the stooping shoulders and large nose, Madam Pince looked like the vulture on Neville's Grandmother's hat had come alive to work at Hogwarts – bringing the hat she formerly perched on with her to wear. "Miss Granger."

Hermione slid the drawing she had her hands closer to the Librarian. Madam Pince leaned forward so slowly that Hermione was almost surprised she didn't hear a creaking from the witch's bones. "I was wondering if you had any books on these types of creatures?"

"Well, what is it?" The librarians tone was short. "I've never seen anything like it before in my life." Hermione looked down at the rough sketch Draco had made for her to show Madam Pince, suddenly feeling foolish. Draco had said it was a harebrained idea to ask the Hogwarts staff what kind of creature she saw when high on whatever potion she had been slipped, but she insisted it be done as she was running out of books to pin point what exactly she had drank.

Hermione slid the parchment back off of the desk, not wanting to have Madam Pince look at it more than necessary. Hermione had always done her best to be kind to the librarian in an attempt to get on her good side, but she was starting to feel that she would have better luck asking asking Moaning Myrtle to vacate the second floor girls bathroom. "I was hoping you might have known the name." Hermione turned away, without another word as she ran thought about her last and most desperate option. _Maybe Hagrid would know-_

"I didn't know you had an interest in Wrackspurts!" How Luna Lovegood managed to naturally sound so soft spoken yet excited at the same time, was something Hermione would never understand. The inflection of her voice should have had Madam Pince threatening detention, but the lack of volume to it provided her the free pass. "Do you have spectrespecs then?"

"You know what these are?" Hermione pointed at the green creature once more. "Can you tell me what you know about them?"

"Why yes, that drawing is quite a decent depiction of them, although it is missing the siphons. Wrackspurts are one of the most interesting creatures in my opinion, second only to Jobberknolls -"

"Are you done?" Madam Pince cut in, sensing a rant was starting. "There are other students who need my assistance, Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood." Hermione smiled as they departed, ignoring the fact that there were exactly _zero_ students requesting the librarian's assistance.

"Can you imagine never making a single sound until you die? And when you do it's just this terribly long scream of every noise you have ever heard backwards?"

"That's... A terrible swan song." Hermione forced out, slightly nervous she would offend the Ravenclaw before she could learn more about the Wrackspurts. She was more than aware she lacked the charisma that Blaise seemed to exude and the fact that Luna was her first lead in over a month made her willing to be overtly friendly if she thought it would help.

"A swan song." Luna repeated, she eyes drifting up to watch several books fly back to their original shelves. "Yes, I suppose it is a crude one."

Hermione let them walk in silence before she stopped to reach in her bag and pulled out _The Quibbler_. "I've been meaning to return this to you."

"My magazine! Yes, I had left it." Luna said it in a way that left Hermione wondering if it was done on purpose. She hugged the magazine to her chest before flipping through the pages and Hermione thought it was a similar habit to her own when she was returned a book she had lent out. If she found a single page damaged from being dog-eared, the person was automatically banned from borrowing anymore of her books. "What was your favorite article?"

Hermione was taken aback at the forwardness of the unexpected question. "Pardon?"

Luna looked up from _The Quibbler_ and blinked. If Hermione had just met her, she would have thought that the raised, faint eyebrows and wide eyes would have equated to a surprised look, but she was now aware that was just how Luna looked. "We're in a library Hermione, Madam Pince would not appreciate it if I raised my voice when we both know what I said." Her eyes drifted to an area beside Hermione. "Neither would the Nargles."

"Nargles?" Hermione repeated dumbly, her eyebrows pinched together. She twisted one end of the drawing in her hands, suddenly concerned that Luna was having a laugh by coming up with creatures that don't exist. Hermione frowned remembering how her pre-Hogwarts bullies used to pick on her for bringing up the creatures she read about in her books. "Are you just trying to give me the run around on whatever Wrackspurts are?" Hermione crossed her arms over her just in defense.

This time it was Luna who frowned. "So you don't have spectrespecs. I'll have to convince my father to release a special edition of _The Quibbler_ that will include them." Luna's round blue eyes fell back on Hermione with a hint of amusement. "You do manage to keep surprising me. I didn't think you partook with drinking Absinthe."

Hermione paled. "What?"

"Oh, I'm not going to say much more until you admit which article you liked best." Luna tucked her wand behind her ear before she continued walking towards the back of the Library. Hermione completely floored by Luna's _correct_ assumption that Hermione actually read _The Quibbler_ had her intrigued, along with the fact that Luna seemed to hold answers she was no where near discovering yet.

"I suppose the article on Minister Marchbanks being a 'Demiguise In Disguise'." The entire magazine was just as Hermione expected it to be: rubbish. However, if she suspended the idea of it attempting to be a reputable resource, she could find a laugh here and there – _especially_ within the articles and political cartoons based on the Ministry. She was happy to see _The Quibbler _seemed to aim their words towards large figureheads like the Aurors and Wizagmont officials rather than the smaller department heads like Arthur Weasley.

Luna turned to share a darling smile with Hermione. "I knew you were a non-conformist, too. Ginny said that you were the straight and narrow type, but I disagreed. I sensed a clear distinction between you and Percy Weasley when we were on the Hogwarts Express." Luna turned down an aisle and looked over the shelves surrounding them. They arrived to the very end, before Luna rose to the tips of her toes reaching for a book.

"You know Percy?" Hermione watched as Luna used her wand to get the book, but not by levitation. By hooking the end of her Beech wood wand into the lip of the hard cover's spine, she was able to tip it over causing a part of it to hang over the ledge. Luna then jumped and pulled the book out of it's spot to pass it to Hermione.

"Ginny and I have been friends since our second year and he likes to hover." Luna's dreamy tone had gone just like it had when Hermione had spoke ill of the magazine Luna's father was an editor for. Luna joined Hermione's side as the Gryffindor flipped through the pages of _Alchemical duodecimo_. When she spoke again, her voice was back to being gentle and friendly. "There's only one of two ways Wrackspurts can be seen. The first way is by using spectrespecs, like I do. The second way is by drinking Absinthe, which then usually causes a horde of Wrackspurts to guide you through the different metaphysical realms."

Hermione wanted to scream as she used the index to locate anything relating to Absinthe. _Of course I found nothing in the potions books! Something that would allow me to see and feel so much could only be related to Alchemy._ Her hands shook as she flipped through the pages to get to where she needed to be. The book used Old English, but it wasn't too much trouble for her to decipher as she read, although one thought nagged her: Alchemy was a subject taught to sixth and seventh years _only_. Hermione remembered how Snape was supposed to be her and Draco's summer tutors and wondered if that was the norm with wizards. _Perhaps he is being taught advanced subjects at home?_

"How many did you see?"

Hermione's head snapped up from the words that were starting to pull her in. She thought it might have been a good thing as she was supposed to be meeting Draco in their usual study spot. "Sorry, I only saw one."

"One?" Luna tapped the tip of her wand to her chin. "Sounds like you mixed it in with something else. That could have been quite clever of you if you put something to counteract the powerful effects."

A huff of air escaped Hermione's mouth in disbelief. _This is the third year Ravenclaw everyone dubbed as _Loony _Lovegood_? "How do you know this?" Hermione had _tried_ to get her hands on Alchemy books, but the well-known tomes at Hogwarts were either kept in classrooms or locked in the restricted section. Everything else simply referred to the craft and never talked about it at higher level than base metal. _Why did I not think to check the Malfoy library?_ Hermione sighed, knowing that her reading list was already expansive enough. She didn't mind that there was so much to read about, but she did mind there was so little time.

"Sometimes I let Weetimorousbeasties pick the next book I should read for light reading. They're native to Scotland." Luna looked up several shelves above them, once again giving Hermione the feeling Luna might have been taking the mick, but dismissed it as she was able to appreciate someone else who shared her same definition of 'light reading.'

"Thank you, Luna. I should be heading off now."

"Going to meet up with Malfoy, Hermione?" Hermione pulled the Alchemy book to her chest as if it would act as another barrier between her and Luna's uncomfortably direct attitude. It had the power to disarming when combined with her dotty demeanor and it Hermione found herself self not enjoying constantly being on the wrong end of it. "I think he fancies you."

Hermione let out a strangled laugh, as she felt like she wanted to cry at the same time remembering Parvati's words from yesterday morning. _Be brave and be bold._ "He doesn't." Hermione ran a hand over her hair. "And we're not even friends." She was aware that Luna probably wasn't buying the lie at all, but it was her way of asking that the truth be kept a secret.

Luna turned her attention back to the books in front of her, trailing a finger across the spines. "I won't tell anyone. My only friend is Ginny and she wouldn't react very well to hear you're friends with him." She paused and Hermione could see the corners of her lips pull down slightly. "She still refuses to go to the loo without someone to accompany her."

Hermione paused to put herself in Ginny's shoes. They had both been victims of terrible trauma and if she had a friend who suddenly became friends with an enemy whose family had caused that trauma... She couldn't blame Ginny for her behavior, _especially_ when that same friend seemed to be after the crush you've had since first year. She knew then she needed to find Ginny and explain everything to the girl.

Hermione turned to leave before she looked down at the book Luna had helped her find. When she looked back up at the Ravenclaw girl, she took a step forward and held out the sketch of the Wrackspurt. "A token of our friendship?" Luna looked up at Hermione with a dead pan expression before it morphed into something much happier when Hermione didn't burst out laughing. "Maybe me, you and Ginny can study together sometime?"

Luna nodded as she took the picture, her straggly fringe fluttering around her face, too light to bounce like Hermione's curls would have. "Okay! When?"

* * *

Draco and Hermione were sitting shoulder to shoulder, reading _Alchemical duodecimo_ together and comparing notes on what they both had picked up on. Hermione felt they were only just starting their research as she wanted to find out more about Absinthe, but Draco was ready to seek revenge on Theo.

"He doesn't deserve any security, false or not." Draco's arm, now completely healed, was crossed with his other arm on top of his chest. "We should just go after him now."

"I beg to differ. He caught you off guard so I don't see why we shouldn't do the same. Plus Absinthe seems to have a similar compound to lysergic acid diethylamide which means it will be stuck in my system until I die so I want to make sure I reciprocate his kindness." Hermione was happy she had been using Draco's quill when she discovered this instead of her own. Her hand snapped the thick owl quill clean in half and she was sure if she was using her enchanted quill from Borkin and Burkes, they wouldn't be able to stop the flow of ink coming from it without Madam Pince sentencing them to a years worth of detention.

"What is lycanic acid -"

"_Lysergic _acid diethylamide, Draco." Draco only waved his hand in a circular motion to encourage her to go on. "Also called LSD? Acid?"

"That has to be a muggle thing." Draco shook his head at her. "I've never heard of that before – And Flint is selling Pixie Dust along with Cracked Imps to the older -"

"He's _what_?" Hermione's eyes went as wide as saucers, "Pixie dust is illegal and highly addictive! We need to tell Dumbledore -"

"Absolutely not. That's how you get yourself hurt. Just mind your business and keep your fluffy little head low -"

"I will _not_!" Hermione exclaimed indignantly. He would have tried to shush her if he didn't know that her charm work that provided them privacy was strong. She had full blown screeched at him once last year and Madam Pince, who had all the Slytherins convinced she had portkeys set up to appear at any part of the library at any given time, had not approached them. "People can ruin their lives over drugs -"

"Then _they_ are the ones who choose to do that. Have you not realized that everything in life is a choice? That people are responsible for their own actions?!" Draco sighed as his head dropped into hands. _I know I am. Just like my parents._ Draco dropped his head completely on the desk and propped his arms on the back of his head. He allowed his guilt to eat at him, convincing him that soon he would hear her chair scrape against the floor as she collected her things to leave. _She'd have every right to be cross with me and she doesn't even know half of the reasons why -_

Draco wanted to look up when he felt Hermione's fingers running through his hair, but he found that he liked it too much to had taken the seat opposite him on the table and he shifted forward so she wouldn't have to reach so far as he allowed himself to sink into the feel of her digits running through the strands of his fine hair. "I... I wouldn't mention that you were the one who told me, you know." Her voice was much more kind as she tried to pacify her friend.

"You wouldn't have to if any Slytherin found out it was you. Two and two would be put together and our enemy façade would have shattered." His voice was slightly muffled, but he didn't dare move. He enjoyed the affection she was showing him too much.

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think of some story she could come up with that would grant her and Draco immunity from getting hexed by the rest of the Slytherin house. "I could lie and say that Moaning Myrtle overheard them and told me."

"They wouldn't wait to hear your story." Draco forced himself to look up and Hermione had to physically hold back a snort seeing a bright red circle in the middle of his forehead. "And who is Moaning Myrtle?"

"She's the ghost in the second floor bathroom." _Be brave and be bold._ Parvati's words were an abrupt whisper in her mind, and she froze with her hand still in the thick of his silken hair. He was staring at her and she seemed to forget how to stop breathing. _Am I really _that _brave though? _Hermione pulled her hand and her gaze away, deciding to drop the subject on how she would get Flint in trouble without putting herself or Draco in danger. She dug through her bag and found the black envelope that Lucius had sent back to her and pushed it towards him. "Speaking of acronyms like LSD, I need your help."

Appreciating the change in topic, Draco took the envelope from her, recognizing it was from his parents. He pulled it out and was surprised to see it was actually from Lucius and _not_ Narcissa like Draco had anticipated:

_Hermione,_

_Normally, I would have been insulted to have received any gift back, let alone two. Instead, I find myself completely amused that I was right to think you would be better suited for managing an organization instead of a business and I am absolutely beside myself with what you are willing to wager on the success of "_Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status._"_

_I look forward to having two house elves instead of none next Summer._

_\- Lucius Abraxas Malfoy_

Draco reread the brief letter a total of three times, attempting to make sense of it. He could hear Hermione rattling something, but was preoccupied with trying to make heads or tails of the letter. "'I look forward to having two house elves instead of none next Summer.' Hermione, what is he talking about?" Draco finally set the letter down and saw that that Hermione had a box of blank acetate button badges of varying shades of silver.

"I'll admit it, I feel horrible." Hermione wore a grimace as she stared at the buttons before determination took over. The serious look had Draco smiling and he found himself wanting to poke her nose in an attempt to lighten her mood. He didn't know _why_ his crush on her said he should, but it did. He was thankful when she continued speaking as her next words gave him something to focus on other than how adorable he found her to be. "By placing the bet I did and agreeing to the stakes, I really just fed into the ideals I've just started to fight. I feel like I am a sham already, but not only is Lucius -" Hermione rolled her eyes to look up at the high ceiling of the Library as she pressed her lips together trying to find a _nice_ word to describe her guardian. "_A convincing_ -"

"Cheating." Draco corrected and he was rewarded with her laughing in agreement.

"Well, you said it and not me." She shook her head before rubbing her temples, her smile gone as soon as it came. "I made a bet on Crewe being freed."

Draco sat there for a moment, mouth opening several times before he finally settled on what he thought would be the best way to express what was going on in his mind: "What?"

"I told you, I did a horrible thing! I objectified him just like every other problematic wizard I have complained about." Hermione buried her hands in her hair as she lowered her head in frustration. "And now I have to win or else I would let him and every single elf down."

Draco, who was still not completely following, sat up to reaffirm his control of the conversation. "I need you to speak in concise sentences. I have no clue what you're on about." Draco looked down at his father's script. "What is this '_Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status_' and why have I never heard of it before?"

"Well, of course you haven't heard of it before. I've only just started it." Hermione sat up herself, subconsciously mimicking Draco's perfect posture as she tried to get herself together.

Draco opened his mouth as if to say '_ah_.' "And you thought it was best to start with Crew?"

"I can't exactly start a movement to liberate house elves if I own one, can I?"

"Nonsense, I think that starts you off in the right direction." He bit the inside of his cheek to stop from smiling. "It's not a real organization if there isn't any material for a scandal to erupt."

"Draco!" Hermione scolded, but she was smiling. "I'm being serious."

Draco made to make another joke, but when he looked at her he couldn't muster it and his smile slowly wilted as he thought about what she had said – not just in the past couple of minutes, but ever since she learned about the hard life of a house elf.

Which coincidentally was at the Quidditch World Cup. _Why does everything go back to that night?_ He heaved a heavy sigh before he interlaced his fingers together. He felt he owed it to her that he at least try to help her win a bet against his father rather than tell her she was fighting a battle she's already lost. "What do you need my help with?"

"Well, right now," Hermione dug through the stack of parchment she had beside her and pulled it out. He didn't need to look past the first page to know that the several centimeter stack were filled with inches upon inches of her minuscule handwriting. He had read one of her essays before when Filch had caught him out past curfew second year and forced him to serve detention with Snape. Snape went easy on him by turning it into a lesson. Draco was to read the essays Snape was grading and point out the flaws within them. Hermione's, of course, was flawless, but Snape still found something to mark her down for when Draco hadn't. "I need you to tell me if this is good enough for me to send to your father. Of course, I don't have to send anything until Christmas -"

"It's not." Hermione huffed when he cut her off, thinking he was just being a prat who was refusing to take her seriously. "What are your short and long term aims?"

"Our short-term goals -"

"Don't say goals, use aims. He'll think the weak wording is juvenile and crass."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, feeling miffed that he was set on tearing apart her argument before he had even read her research. "Our short-term _aims_ are to secure House Elves fair wages and working conditions." She paused, expecting him to interrupt her or say something negative. When he didn't she continued, "our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."

Draco's eyes widened hearing what she planned on accomplishing long-term. Lucius played politician from time to time and Draco knew the wizards on the Wizgamont would never allow such a thing to pass. If he fed into the small voice of optimism though, he could pretend the old pious, vultures would die what was considered an early death for a wizard if Hermione really did mean to follow her plan of action after they graduated Hogwarts. "And this will be a non-profit?"

Hermione nodded her head once more. "We start by recruiting members. I thought five Sickles to join — that buys a badge — and the proceeds can fund my leaflet campaign. Ron can be treasurer, I plan on transfiguring a collection tin for him and Harry can be secretary." Hermione paused at that as a thought came to her. "Or perhaps not. I may just count this as our first meeting and he's not present to record anything I'm saying."

Jealously started to crop up in Draco at the mention of her other two friends being delegated positions in her organization. "Are you sure they'll be so keen to join? Ron didn't seem like he agreed with your views on House Elves."

"Well, you're going to join and you don't have the same views as I do." Hermione reached into the collection of silver buttons and pulled one out. She picked up her wand, whispering an incantation as she waved it over the button and placed it in front of him. Draco looked down at the pin and chuckled. Due to the lengthy name, Hermione had to etch it into the button as a spiral which caused the reader to squint when getting to the end of the organization's name as the engraving's font size decreased.

"Oh, I'm not joining, but I'll pay for the button to start you off. Would you happen to have change for a galleon?" Draco reached into his robes to locate if he had any money on him, but Hermione was more focused on being rebuffed so smoothly.

"What do you mean you won't be joining _Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status_?"

Draco having found a galleon, tossed it into the container that held all of her buttons. "Because you'll need to learn rejection before achieving anything else." Draco gave her a sweet smile that made her hair curl – not that she needed it. "And you'll need to convince me. If you can't get me to agree on being your vice president -

"I never said -" Her protest was loss as Draco continued to make his point.

"You won't convince my father to even change the sack on Crewe's back. Since I am CEO-In-Training, I'm the next best thing to my father. Heir to the Malfoy name and all of that." He waved a haughty hand before he placed the same hand on the stack of parchments she had pulled out. "If you genuinely want _this_, you have to make it something he can't easily crush. What you'll need first and foremost is people. People equal money as far as my father is concerned. 'Non-profit-," Draco did air quotations with the hand that hovered over her parchment, "or not. I am willing to help you with pointers and when you're ready to send off your final proposals, I'll review them."

"Fine." Hermione pulled the parchment from beneath his slender fingers and shoved them back into her bag. "If that's how you want to play. What tips do you have for me now, Mr. _CEO-In-Training_?" Hermione repeated the coined title in a voice that she lowered to mock him. She smirked when he narrowed his eyes before ticking a list off on his fingers.

"Change the name -"

"What? That's the best name I've got! I just need to come up with an acronym."

"No, you have a mouthful and no one is going to remember it. _As I was saying_," Draco dramatically held up his hands again and started over with his list. "Change the name, _then_ come up with a catchy acronym." He pushed down his second finger to emphasize when to come up with an acronym before he moved on to the third instruction, "and make the buttons different colors to give people a choice. I'm sure you noticed that wizards like to accessorize."

Hermione had expected more critiques, but was hopeful when he only stopped at three. "That's all I need to get you to sign up then?"

Draco was the one to smirk at her now. "That's just the changes I'm starting you out with." A thought came to him then and he felt foolish that he thought the biggest issue Hermione would face was convincing wizards to join her cause. "Have you spoken to any House Elves about this? A testimony could always work in your favor." _Or give you a reality check._

Draco realized too late that he had triggered Hermione to go into a rant on her confronting Crewe the day they were to board the Hogwarts Express, fuming that she felt the elf had been slighted in the worst way with the brainwashing he was a victim of.

He couldn't say he had fully minded though. He could list off many things that he adored about Hermione, but her passion was his favorite thing – even if it was slightly directed at him or a cause he had little faith in being fruitful.

_"... Maybe, the answers you're looking for is right where the pain is and maybe, you need to learn how to face the music, so to speak."_

_"You've been saying that all weekend." Hermione looked over at the younger version of herself to see the expression she held was borderline murderous._

_"I don't understand you."_

_"Perhaps that's a good thing, it means you haven't been though what I have."_

_The young Hermione scoffed and looked away. Her head was in one hand and Hermione watched slowly as the girl's clothes started to change. Soon, the was in a elegant, knee-length black dress. Hermione eyed it, thinking it looked familiar and gasped when she figured out why: It was the velvet_ _dress she wore to her parent's funeral._ _"Oh, I have." The girl pointed a finger at the tombstone, demanding Hermione look at it once more. "Maybe, the answers you're looking for is right where the pain is."_

_Hermione sighed. She saw her younger self more frequently, but the meetings had become more and more uneventful. The younger Hermione stopped saying so much and had spent most of her time pointing at their parent's tombstone as she recited the same words over and over again. _

_Being more than aware the young girl was sure to repeat herself, Hermione focused on the runes of the tombstone. While the new dreamless draught had been less than helpful with fighting off the nightmares, she did find that her dreams were much more lucid, giving her a clear mind and the power to focus more. As she remembered_ _what had occurred in Professor Babbling's Runes class, Hermione tried to focus on the ancient language she knew was under the cloudy vision before her. She had attempted to run a hand through it before, to get a literal feel of it like she was able to now if she really centered herself, but nothing came of it. Her hand glided through the cloudy screening as if it wasn't there._

_With a deep breath, Hermione decided it was time to wake up. _If my dreams always end in pain, might as well induce it myself. _Hermione recalled the Runes she knew thoroughly and the burning pain erupted with a spark. As she kept her eyes on the tombstone, she mentally ran through the Anglo-Saxon runes and when she started to mentally list the Marcomannic runes, the searing pain intensified and through her tears, she could finally _see _the runes._ _Before she could try to decipher them though, they started to morph and she wanted to scream. _Why! What is going on? _Instead of panicking through, her resolve only strengthened as she forced herself not to look away and give in to the pain that yearned to engulf her. Hermione gave a small gasp once the etchings before her stopped moving. _These are regular words. _English_ words.

Hermione sat up in bed, completely drenched in sweat – but not in pain for once. _I'm a bloody idiot._ Dr. Augsen was right – and so was the younger Hermione - the truth had been past the pain this whole time and her subconscious was nearly spelling it out for her. Hyped from her theory, she threw all qualms of being silent in respect for her sleeping housemates out the figurative window as she lit the end of her wand with a "_lumos." _She got up, opened her curtains rather loudly and started to rummage through her bag that she had placed on the top of her suitcase.

It was only after she was shoulder deep in the bag and had pulled every book _but _her sought after runes book that her hand finally enclosed around it. Pulling it out, she immediately flipped to where the practice phrases were and found that not only was that glamour-like interference no longer present, if she stared with enough intent, she could partially decipher them into English. _Bloody hell._ She gave a small laugh. Hermione had never heard of anything like it before, but she was relieved more than anything that she did not have to worry about her studies suffering, or having to send an owl to Narcissa explaining that lost her ability to _read_ all at once.

Her giddiness started to evaporate though, when she felt something warm and thicker than water racing down the curve of her eye socket, highlighting her cheekbones. She pulled on the sleeve of her nightdress before pressing it to her face. There was a stinging feeling when her finger tips grazed where her scar was and she didn't need to see the blood to know it was there.

When Hermione pulled her hand away to look at her sleeve, she couldn't help but give out a small whimper before frantically digging for a towel, not expecting to see _that_ much blood.


	43. Year Four: Part III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recap of chapter 42: Ginny overhears Hermione saying she fancies Harry, which is not true. Parvati suggested Hermione be brave and bold. Hermione struggles with reading runes as they cause her to end up in pain when she tries to read them. Hermione learns that Draco was ambushed by Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle. Dr. Augsen gives Hermione a less powerful version of dreamless sleep draught, Hermione is unaware as she is under the impression it is a stronger dose. Luna and Hermione become friends after Luna points Hermione in the right direction of what Theo had slipped her. Hermione reveals that she had made a deal with Lucius over Crewe's freedom. Hermione has a break through in her dreams and is able to read runes again.  
\----  
Friendly reminder that Que is read as Cho.  
\----  
TW: Mention of miscarriage, Torture, depression and self loathing thoughts.

Lucius nearly dropped to his knees seeing Narcissa's dead body.

What stopped him from doing so, was the swift movement of Voldemort kicking her side so her body rolled over and revealed that she died protecting two more people he could not fathom never seeing ever again: Draco and Hermione.

"She's always been so emotional." The dark Wizard said matter-of-factly. "She better not be pregnant again, if I return. I'll kill the little imp like I did last time. She's much too feral when she's with child. It gets in the way of my ability to control her."

_If?_ Lucius' eyes darted to the open drawer of the letter cabinet he had been searching through just moments earlier. _This isn't real. _Held his breath for a fraction of a second, something he always did when needing to regain control of his emotions and shaking hands. Imagining his favorite childhood toy, Lucius raised his wand at Voldemort, something he would never do if the real Dark Lord was in front of him. "_Riddikulus._" The Voldemort boggart immediately turned into a Jack-in-a-Box that had a puppet Voldemort lightly bouncing on the end of the extended spring.

Not realizing that there was more than one boggart due to a boggarts ability to shape shift into several objects at once, Lucius watched with narrowed eyes as the bodies of Narcissa, Draco and Hermione gathered into two dark spirals before the boggarts settled on the image of an alive Draco and Narcissa. Draco was pressing himself against the wall, with Narcissa using her own body to act as a barrier between Lucius and their son. "Please Abraxas, he's just a boy!"

_Abraxas?_ Fear stirred within him once more. _Is that how she sees me? Is that how Draco sees me?_ Lucius would be lying if the scene was unfamiliar in more ways than one. While Narcissa had never put herself between Lucius and Draco like this before, there was once a time where _Lucius_ was the one who cowered against one of the many walls of the manor with his mother trying to protect him from the wrath of his father. There was also another time where he actually _had_ scared Draco into a similar position.

Lucius shook his head at the memories and aimed his wand at the non-beings once more, causing Draco to grab at his mother as she screamed. "_Riddikulus."_ The second boggart turned into a stuffed Mooncalf, the most ridiculous creature Lucius had ever heard of. A brief bout of anger flashed through him as the last boggart morphed again, but he kept his wand at the ready.

"Lucius, stop!" Hermione cried out as she laid on the floor, too weak to stand as her muscles locked and released against her will. Her hair was clumped together by knots from her head rolling against the floor and her eyes were bright with tears. He saw this particular look on many muggles and muggleborns he had tortured in the past with the Cruciatus Curse. "Please," She whined. "The Order can help -"

Lucius stance faltered as he remembered a similar conversation with another witch long ago, an Alice Longbottom to be exact. He wasn't aware that some boggarts were powerful enough to completely draw from a wizard's memories.

"_Crucio_!" The curse sounded distant, but Lucius recognized Bellatrix's voice just before Hermione's screams started up again.

"STOP IT, STOP! PLEASE, AAHHHH!" The convulsions that racked her body turned into full on thrashing as she kicked the air and slammed her own fists into her head in an attempt to create new pain to distract her from the torture of the curse.

_I need to make it stop._ It was difficult, even for a seasoned wizard like him, but he was eventually able to conjure a pleasant enough item to turn the boggart into, over the sound of her blood-curdling screams. "_Riddikulus_." In the last boggart's place was a doll house. Lucius breathed a sigh of relief to know there wasn't one more boggart he needed to fight off.

Lucius banished the items and turned back to the letter cabinet he had opened, riffling through the grey envelopes almost carelessly. Soon, he found the three offending envelopes, the seals having been popped open. He sucked his teeth as he reapplied a sticking charm on the rest of the howlers that kept boggarts trapped within them before burning the envelopes he had withdrawn. He retrieved the normal black envelope he had initially opened the cabinet for and sealed his letter in it before he started his trek to the owlery. Usually, he would send Crewe to retrieve an owl for him, but considering what he had just witnessed, he thought a slightly lengthy walk might have done him some good. He tried not to think about what the boggarts had turned into, but it was difficult. The first two were his two worst fears, but the last one he knew wasn't just derived from fear, it was also borne out of guilt. _There's nothing I can do now to atone for what I had done. I've never felt remorse before, so why now?_

Upon his arrival at the owlery, Lucius rolled up the sleeves of his shirt before beckoning his owl Zeus to a lower perch so his letter may be attached. The shadow of the bird's wings as Zeus flew off brought Lucius' attention to the dark mark. It looked different today and he eyed it curiously in the sun light. He seldom ever looked at it as he despised the reminder of the darkest years of his life, but he distinctly remembered that it had become very cloudy once Voldemort had disappeared from the world. He frowned as he pulled the pale skin around his mark taut to look at the outline he swore had not been defined for nearly fifteen years.

_"You were right, the muggle was murdered with the killing curse." Lucius looked up from the journal he had been writing in at Narcissa's announcement. She had just arrived in his study and he couldn't stop the corners of his eyes crinkling from the smile he had as he looked at Narcissa. "The snake skin you brought me belonged to a Maledictus witch, although the curse is in full affect and she won't be able to change back into her human form."_

_"How unfortunate." Lucius put his journal to the side to give his wife his full attention. There wasn't a hint of sorrow in his voice._

_"The witch was also made a Horcrux, it seemed." Narcissa pursed her lips in thought. "I think I am going to have the children take a look at the snake skin themselves so they have at least one educational experience this summer. It was an interesting find - It seems that when she was turned into a Horcrux, it interacted with the blood curse and caused the species of her form to change, which is why she had ended up shedding."_

_"That is fascinating, but a Horcrux? Why make a living being one?" Lucius was happy he had not reported the break in to the Aurors. If the Horcrux was created in the Riddle home, there was no doubt they would try to pin the traces of the illegal magic on to him as the property was under his name._

_"I never considered making one, so I can't say I see the logic behind it either." She gave a tight smile, but she glanced down at his arm. "There hasn't been any changes to your mark, has there?"_

_Lucius paused and when he spoke, his voice was hushed as if someone had the ability to listen to their conversation. "You think _he _somehow came back from the grave -?" _

_Narcissa held up a hand after giving her head a quick shake. "For my peace of mind, please just humor me, Lucius."_

_He was confident there would be no change, but he still pulled at his cuff so he may peer down his dress shirt sleeve. "Not a blur out of place." Narcissa nodded as she tried not to make her sigh of relief so obvious. "You worry too much. We both know he's gone for good. Even if he had made a Horcrux and was kept alive because of it, it's nearly impossible to make a second."_

_Narcissa spared him a polite smile._

Lucius and Narcissa worried for years if the reason the mark never disappeared was because it was a hint that Voldemort may have still been alive somehow. As the years passed and the Dark Lord never came back, they chalked up the lack of a disappearing mark simply meant that the marks she created were etched into their skin a little _too_ well.

_We had that conversation before the Quidditch Cup though, so I am positive any change in my mark may have been triggered by the Dark Mark being cast in the air. No reason to worry._ He ran through the reasoning several times to verify it was sound before he headed back towards the manor. _The Dark Lord is long gone. I should be worrying about convincing Narcissa to let me join her full time in the orphanage. That woman never wants to let me help her without a fight._

* * *

When Hermione woke up on her birthday, she wasn't surprised to see gifts at the foot of her bed, but she was surprised to see the _amount_ of gifts she had. In addition to the book she received from Ron, the candy from Harry, and the new school supplies from the Malfoys (everything was Dragon bound or made of gold – aside from the pewter cauldron), she had received three additional presents. Two she could easily identify as magazines, but one was in a large envelope.

Hermione lifted the large, black manila envelope that she knew was from Draco. Despite the lack of signature. She carefully untied the strings and pulled out the paper that was inside. It was beautiful, as Draco's drawings always were and she found herself trailing a finger along the curve of the drawing's face. _Her_ face. Draco had gifted her a portrait and she couldn't stop the warmth spreading through her at the small details she kept noticing the more she looked at it. He made her hair the perfect amount of frizzy at the end of the day, and he didn't shy away from giving her a real smile, buckteeth and all. She nervously licked at the front of her teeth at that, afraid of what he thought of them if they were prominent enough for him to sketch, but she turned her attention to the freckles he sprinkled on her face. It was another, much smaller insecurity she had as she had always been targeted for her teeth and hair before anything else, but the shading of it was impeccable – she _had _to appreciate the work he put in it. Her favorite detail about the drawing though, was the scar on her brow. After she had woken up to her bleeding almost a fortnight ago, the scar now went all the way through her brow instead of it being nestled in the middle of her eyebrow. It had grown on her, as she now agreed with Draco that it made her look as tough as she wanted to feel, since it no longer looked like she cut herself with a razor.

Hermione hugged the drawing to her chest and tilted her head back. She felt as if she was both soaring in Gryffindor tower, and sinking into her bed. She had hoped that not being in the same house would provide her crush the ability to fade, but the feelings only seemed to intensify. She constantly was looking forward to her and Draco's next secret meeting, and the thought of him always brought a smile to her face. Hermione started to fear if she let the unrequited feelings continue, she would go mad.

She placed the drawing to the side along with her giddiness that Draco brought her and reached for one of the Magazines. She laughed when she saw the newest edition of _The Quibbler_ in front of her. She flipped it open to see a homemade birthday card made out of parchment looking back at her. Luna had taken the time to draw swirls and stars that were charmed to spin or blink in and out of view. Hermione opened the folded card and at the very top was Luna's scratchy and spaced out hand writing that was still much more legible that Ron's. '_This is a Nargle free gift. Store with care._' Hermione made a mental note to set a date with Luna for them to study together as she still had not done so, before she continued reading:

_Many happy returns to you on your birthday, Hermione. This edition does not include _ _spectrespecs, but dad is looking into releasing an edition that does have them! He agreed with me when I mentioned that it would be most helpful for his subscribers to be aware of the creatures around them._

_I can't wait to hear which article you liked best this time. I personally enjoyed the one about Stevie Nick's pet Diricawl._

_\- Your friend, Luna Lovegood._

Hermione blinked several times before checking the table of contents to find the mentioned article. Not once did she ever think that there may have been wizards parading around as Muggle celebrities, but lo and behold, she came across not just the article, but a very accurate caricature of the rock star posing with the large, birdlike creature.

Setting the magazine down after giving the article a quick skim, she picked up the remaining gift. The last magazine was no doubt from Lavender and Parvati. It was a Cosmopolitan magazine and they had used sticky notes (one of their 'muggle discoveries' made by Lavender who made it her personal mission to horde every color made) to bring attention to articles that addressed _how to approach and get the attention of your crush_ and other features of the like. The one that had her pause though, was a quiz.

Hermione didn't know if she hated that she actually allowed herself to take the '_Does he fancy you back or are you just a friend?_' quiz before moving on with her morning routine, or if she hated herself for blushing for taking the quiz _anyway_ after acknowledging it was probably a load of rubbish. _If your answer is YES to any of the below questions, give yourself one point. If the answer is NO, do not give yourself any points._

_1\. Does he set time out of day his to see you?_

_Well, of course he does. We make plans to study often enough. _Hermione lifted a finger to keep track of the points she accumulated.

_2\. Does he bring you to family gatherings and events?_

_That hardly counts._ Hermione kept a finger down as she raised a judging eyebrow instead. _I should just stop taking this quiz now_. She didn't.

_3\. Does he remember small details you've told him?_

Hermione thought back to yesterday when she and Draco were in the library. He had somehow coaxed her into venting about the frustration she had with Ron for not putting her notes from class in the color coded order she kept them in, when he copied them. Draco then took the binder from her while she was mid rant, and reordered it into the exact sequence she kept it in. She had only brought the subject up to Draco once before when she was debating if alphabetical order would be a better method to stay organized. _Yes, he does._

_4\. Does he encourage you to do that one thing you've been wanting to try?_

She didn't know whether she should smile or growl at the question. On one hand, he had not discouraged her like she thought he would when she brought up S.P.E.W to him initially - She finally renamed the organization, but now he refused to help her anymore until she changed the name _again._ _"Who would want to join something that sounds so ghastly?"_ He asked when she announced the name change. After she snapped at him, he defended himself by saying that he only wanted to see her put her full effort into a cause she cared about. _I suppose that would count as a 'YES'._

_5\. Does he complain you do not spend enough time together?_

Hermione felt her heart pick up its pace as she lifted another finger. Draco was constantly pouting and complaining that it wasn't fair she saw Harry and Ron more than him. She teased him about it relentlessly.

_6\. Did he want you to meet his friends?_

She paused as she thought about it. _He wasn't eager to have me acquainted with Blaise, but he wasn't against it._ Hermione kept her finger down, unsure of how to answer.

_7\. And finally, Have you guys ever had a moment when you felt like he wanted to kiss you?_

Hermione stared at the question before closing her eyes and trying to clear her thoughts and feelings to have a more objective view as she brought up the memory again.

_"Draco?" Hermione's heart was beating much too fast and she knew it wasn't because of the dancing. Draco was looking at her like he wanted to say something - or do something. It was similar to the look that Ron gave her before, but she welcomed it feeling her heart flutter in response. He didn't respond when she called out her name, but he did start to lower his face to hers. She froze, not knowing what his intentions were._

Her eyes widened as another finger flew up. _He had the same look Ron had... And Ron fancies me so maybe –_ With a racing heart, Hermione flipped the magazine upside down to read the fine print at the bottom of the page: _0-2, Sorry, he doesn't like you. 3-4, Nothing more than a friend. 5-7, I hear wedding bells!_ Hermione looked at her hand that held five fingers completely flexed, she had scored five out of seven which apparently meant that Cosmopolitan thought that he wanted something with her.

She threw the magazine to sit with the rest of her presents at the end of the bed. _Utter bollocks. _Hermione decided that she needed to focus on getting through Monday and another birthday without her parents, rather than let a gossip rag dictate her love life.

But even as the Gryffindor pulled her hair into her usual messy bun, or brushed her uneven teeth, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe, _just maybe_, Cosmopolitan was right.

She secretly hoped it was.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Neville, and the twins were staring at Hermione like she had just started speaking troll, grew multiple heads or said that she was a Seer. With the bite of bread that had just fell out of Ron's gaping mouth, she thought that he imagined all three had happened.

"Ron, that's disgusting." Hermione grimaced and only felt a little bad when a slight brush appeared on his face. She sighed and was going to continue with the pitch she had been making when George asked a question.

"How many members have you got?"

"Well," Hermione hoped no one caught the way her eyes flicked over to the side of the courtyard where a group of Slytherins were sitting – Draco included. "Well – if you two join - five."

"Five? Who had you told before us?" Ron's eyebrows were pulled together as he frowned at Hermione, thinking she had started to tell others about her organization before her best friends.

"No one," Hermione didn't miss how easy the lie floated off her lips. "I'm counting you two already," she pointed at him and Harry. "As I'd like for you to be our treasurer and Harry to be our secretary."

"Really?" Harry asked, being pulled out of his one sided staring contest with Que Chang who was sitting with Marietta Edgecomb, another Ravenclaw, and several Hufflepuffs.

"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges saying '_spew_' on it, do you?" Ron countered.

"S-P-E-W!" Hermione crossed her arm over her chest as she spelled out the acronym, the tin with the single galleon in it settled beneath one arm. I was going to put _Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status,_" Hermione once again glanced at Draco, who was now pushing his hair back as he smirked in her direction, leading her to believe he heard her raising her voice at Ron. "But it was a mouthful." In the crowded courtyard, she heard his faint laugh. "So _Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare_ is the heading of our manifesto." She brandished the sign up sheaf of parchment and offered it to Fred and George.

"This is what you've been researching in the library, then?" Harry glanced at the sign up paper the Twins were reading before looking at Hermione to see she was digging in her bag for a quill.

"Yes, Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now." Hermione was just about to go into detail on what she hoped to accomplish Fred passed the parchment back, without their signatures.

"Until I see some elf signatures on there, we're out." Fred shifted his bag that was hanging on one shoulder, higher up. "George and I have a little project of our own we're working on anyways."

Hermione slightly deflated, despite the kind decline. "You should try talking to some of the elves here, they'll tell you how much they like their jobs." Fred added.

"I haven't seen a single house elf in the three years we've been attending Hogwarts." Harry stated.

"A sign of a good house elf then." George cut in, causing Fred and Ron to laugh at the glare Hermione threw. "Go to the kitchens. You can get there by going through one of the doors in the entrance hall and taking the stairs downwards. You'll end up in a basement corridor, with loads of food paintings. Tickle the pear on a painting of a bowl of fruit and you'll find all the house elves to talk to."

"Just don't piss them off too much. We like to stay friendly with them." Fred warned. "Let's go, George. We have an owl to send off."

"How come they never tell _me_ any of this stuff?" Ron said with the last piece of bread lodged instead of his cheek so he could speak. "It's always you two -"

"Oh, Ron, think about it though! Can you imagine if I can get house elves to speak up against their own oppression?" Hermione was beside herself. _This is the best present I could have gotten today! Lucius won't be able to refuse._

"Hermione – open your ears," Ron said loudly. She could feel the unfinished argument they had at the Quidditch World Cup starting to reappear. "They. Like. It. They _like_ being enslaved!"

The happy bubble that started to build in her popped. "That's ridiculous, Ron!"

"_That's ridiculous, Ron!_" Hermione turned around to see that Theo was the one who had mocked her, his cronies Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

"Oh, look what the kneazle dragged in." Hermione threw over her shoulder before she looked back to Ron and Harry, intent on ignoring whatever Theo tried to throw back at her.

"Yeah, the _orphaned_ trio." Hermione's jaw dropped as she whirled around, not believing someone actually delivered that low of a blow. "Oh wait, Ron you still have your parents, right? You should volunteer to go up for adoption, mate, then your family wouldn't have to struggle so much.

Hermione rushed forward, ready to take Theo on not just for Ron's sake, but for Draco's too, but she felt arms wrap around her to restrain her.

"Guys, stop! Snape is right there!" Neville said, wiggling with Hermione while he tried to keep his grasp on her. Hermione stopped just as Snape walked past them, his robes billowing in the wind behind him. _He _has _to charm them to float like that. There is no way that the material is that fluid._ Hermione found humor despite her angry thoughts and she felt half of a smile appear on her face. _I read one bloody magazine and now I think I can challenge Parvati in knowledge of fabrics._

Sensing that Hermione was no longer going to attack Theo, Neville let her go. She straightened her uniform out, but Theo was far from done with them. "You know Ron, if you insist on keeping your parents, you should at least get a facial scar like these too so you aren't _completely_ the odd one out."

This time, Hermione didn't rush forward with Harry and Ron, but she did step in front of Ron while Neville held on to Harry's sleeve. "He's not worth it, Ron. Are you done here, Nott?" Hermione placed the S.P.E.W. Collection tin back in her bag.

"Aw, you're not still mad at me, are you, Kitten? I know you must have drank _it_ by now." Hermione felt her hand twitch, itching to enclose around her wand's hilt to hex Nott to high heaven. She didn't know what to say to say in that moment and it had her clenching her teeth. Breaking her typically urbane composure seemed to be enough for him though. "No matter, I really came to talk to Weasley, anyway." Theo held out his hand and Crabbe slapped an issue of _The Daily Prophet_ into it. Hermione couldn't help but think that Nott had trained Crabbe and Goyle better than Draco ever had. Her thoughts halted though once he started reading at a loud volume, grabbing the attention of everyone in the courtyard:

**FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**

_It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, _writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent_. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."_

"Isn't - Isn't _your_ dad the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Weasley?" Nott looked up. "Imagine them not even getting his name right. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed. A crowd hard started to gather around them, and Nott's dark eyes danced around, delight filling his features before he straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

_Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was involved several weeks ago in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene._

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Nott, flipping the paper over and holding it up to his face, as if he really needed to get a close look. "A picture of your parents outside their house — if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury, and Hermione was conflicted on if she should do the right thing or what she _wanted_ to do.

"Get stuffed, Nott," she heard Harry say. "C'mon, Ron -"

"Oh, the article isn't done yet." Nott's eyes once again fell on Hermione and she closed her eyes. _What ever he says next, you will not react. He is due for karma to be handed to him, but you will not act, not yet and _not _in front of everyone._ Hermione did her best to imagine how Narcissa would act so she could mimic the unperturbed air the woman practically exuded when she needed to.

_Perhaps this is why the Weasleys had been denied custody of, now fifteen year old, Hermione Granger, who had lost her parents in a tragic murder that she witnessed in the Summer of 1993. The girl was left with severe mental scaring that an already questionable household, like the Weasleys, would just exacerbate._

Before her eyes flew open, she could already feel the eyes of the surrounding student body on her. Nott was practically grinning ear to ear, knowing what rumors were bound to be spread now, but before the rest of the article could be read, Draco had ripped the news paper from Nott's hands. "Give me that. Your bloody cawing was making my ears bleed." Hermione was both elated and suspicious on what Draco's next move was. _Surely, there's no way that he can trick others to think he isn't defending me again._ Draco looked down at the article before a sneer broke out on his face. "You skipped over some vital information about the Weasley's, Nott." _Of course._Hermione huffed, knowing the verbal onslaught was not going to stop, but be redirected away from her.

Ron, however, had had enough. "Malfoy, I swear -"

"On what? I'd ask if your word was as good as gold but," Draco's eyes slowly raked over Ron's person. "I don't think you've ever even seen gold."

Harry and Neville both jumped on Ron as Hermione stepped forward and pulled out her wand. "Enough! _Incendio!_" Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle stepped back to retreat as the paper Draco was holding burst into flames. Instead of retreating himself though, Draco pulled out his wand in defense. Hermione eyes widened as if to ask '_what are you doing_?' but Draco slightly shrugged one shoulder, his meaning was clear: '_it was just a reaction'_. Both teens stared at each other, unsure of what to do or say next.

To either their fortune or misfortune though, neither had to do a thing. There was a loud _BANG_, several surprised screams, and Draco was gone. In his place, a pure white Angora ferret.

"THINK YOU CAN PULL YOUR WAND ON A LADY, DO YA?" Professor Moody was limping across the courthouse to the ferret. He was the only one who was moving a muscle as every other student was terrified – or in shock like Hermione was, realizing that Draco _was_ the ferret. She took a step forward to pick Draco up, but Moody was quick on a wooden leg. He half put himself between her and Draco, before he flicked his wand, sending Draco into the air. "Did your parents not teach you proper etiquette?" Draco started to fall to the ground, but Moody sent him up once, twice, three, times in the air so Draco appeared to be bouncing. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do."

Hermione watched with open-mouthed horror as the ferret flew through the air, his arms and legs flailing helplessly. "Professor, stop!"

"I don't think so, lassie. I have a lesson to teach -"

_I can't interfere magically, I could hurt Draco and if Moody and I cast the wrong spell at once. _"Professor, please! I pulled my wand on him first -" Hermione's elevated voice caught the attention of a Professor McGonagall who seemed to just be passing by the courtyard in the same direction Snape had just gone.

"Professor Moody!" McGonagall was gripping the front of her long, robes in one hand while she held a pile of books in the other.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," Moody said with the same energy that one would if they were commenting on the weather. He never took his eye off of the still bouncing ferret, but his magical eye did swivel wildly to land on McGonagall.

"What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall followed the ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching."

Hermione inhaled sharply at Professor Moody's cheek before she shrieked, "PROFESSOR, THAT'S A STUDENT!"

McGonagall dropped her books at once. "Moody, _is_ that a student?!"

"Yep," He replied without hesitation.

"No!" McGonagall's wand was out in an instant, and a loud snapping noise sounded. Hermione cast a cushioning charm on to the ground before Draco fell the ten feet, landing on his arse. Draco's face was pink, and his hair looked even more pale as thin strands were plastered to his forehead. Hermione forgetting entirely they were surrounded by students, started to walk towards him. Draco saw her movement and gave a slight shake of his head, telling her to keep her distance.

"Moody, we _never_ use transfiguration as a punishment!" There were few times Hermione had seen her Head of House so angry – which was saying a lot. As professional as the Professor was, Hermione was still unsure if Seamus' Irish temperament was more explosive than McGonagall's Scottish one.

"Come on, let's go." Neville was pulling at Hermione's sleeve, uncomfortable being around a livid McGonagall. It was understandable after he had been at the mercy of her wrath several times last year, and Hermione thought that it would be better for at least Draco's sake, to get Ron and Harry's prying eyes away from the scene.

Thankfully, Harry nor Ron objected when Hermione hinted at them leaving by mentioning she wanted to get started on their charms homework.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly, staring intently at the space before him as they made their way back to Gryffindor tower.  
"Why not?" Hermione expected him to give at least three reruns about what her other best friend had been through, just as Ron often did with Quidditch matches.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Neville and Harry laughed with Ron, but she was at least content she didn't have to worry about possible getting into another row with Ron about publicly defending Draco. They did, however, almost get into a spat about his new title for her Slytherin friend: _Draco Malfoy, Salazer's Bouncing Ferret_.

* * *

Even though Hermione was no longer doing her research for S.P.E.W, she still scarfed down her dinner as if she was going to be on her way back to the Library. Instead of immediately running off though, her escape was delayed by Hera, Narcissa's owl, dropping off a last minute parcel at dinner. Something she imagined had only been allowed due to it being her birthday. Hermione fed the owl a bit of liverwurst before opening the box to reveal four homemade treats: A chocolate cauldron cake, an apple tart, a miniature Chantilly cake, and several pieces of treacle fudge that looked much more decadent than the ones Hagrid made around Christmas time. Every treat was presented on top of a lace patterned, paper doily.

There was a letter stuck to the lid of the cake box and Hermione opened it eagerly to be greeted by Narcissa's calligraphy:

_Many happy returns on your birthday Hermione,_

_I was unsure of what pastries your friends would be interested in, so I decided to include a small selection, although I will say the Chantilly cake was baked with you in mind. I do know you prefer sweets with real fruit in it, so I am confident you'll enjoy it._

_I hope your special day was filled with many highlights._

_Sincerely, _

_Narcissa Midase Malfoy._

_'I hope your special day was filled with many highlights.'_ Hermione's eyes landed to the empty spot on the Slytherin's table where Draco once was, but she suspected he had already left for the music room she was to be meeting him in. _I wouldn't say highlights, but it was definitely eventful_.

"What's that you got there?" Harry asked, nodding to the box of sweets.

"Narcissa sent us desserts for my birthday! They're home made, would you like the cauldron cake or the treacle fudge?"

Harry looked over at Ron after a moment's hesitation. "You want the cauldron cake or treacle fudge?"

Ron, who had just been listening to Neville rant about the Herbology book Professor Moody had lent him, glanced over and saw the parcel Hermione had in front of her. "Were those sent by the Malfoys?"

"Yes." Hermione replied slowly, not liking the look of hesitation on Ron's face.

"No thanks, 'Mione." Ron looked down at his own food, a grimace on his face, but for once he seemed as if he wanted to avoid an argument.

"And why is that?" She asked as Harry removed the cauldron cake from Hermione's box. "Harry doesn't have a problem with where they came from."

She gave Ron a pointed look just as Harry had sunk his teeth into a ginormous bite of the chocolate dessert. Ron looked slightly alarmed, but not as much as Ginny as she watched the teen she fancied eat a dessert made by the hands of Narcissa Malfoy. Harry swallowed the treat shortly after so he could speak without food obstructing his speech. "I actually _do_ have a problem from _where_ they came from, but I don't have a problem with sweets. I don't trust the Malfoys, but if they wanted to harm Hermione, it would have been over the summer. That's what she keeps saying, isn't it? And I did receive food from Hermione over the Summer. They could have easily poisoned me then." Hermione knew that Harry was aware that the food had actually come from her childhood home, but she appreciated his attempt at wanting to sooth his friend's nerves. She wasn't surprised that it was Harry who was taking her side as he was usually the agreeable one. Even with Ron being in a particularly good mood after watching Draco be turned into a ferret, he wasn't going to ;et go of any preconceived ideas about the Malfoys.

"And what about me? I had _you-know-who_," Ginny lowered her voice to a malevolent hiss as she said the moniker, "in my head for an _entire_ school year thanks to Lucius."

Ron made the same thinking face he often did when playing wizard's chess as he considered Harry's words. "Technically they gave you the diary over the Summer holiday." Ron's skill with a chess board did not translate to social situations, though.

"I don't believe you! You're supposed to be my brother." Ginny got up from her seat and stormed out of the Great Hall, her food only half-eaten. Hermione was filled with sadness watching her friend leave – she still hadn't been able to corner Ginny into a conversation to explain that she did not _actually_ have a crush on Harry, she simply wanted Parvati and Lavender to stop interrogating her.

Harry took another bite of the fudge, but with less enthusiasm as he did so. Ron had apparently been convinced with Harry's reasoning and asked if the offer was still on the table to take the fudge off of her hands. She happily handed it over to him and watched her two friends eat a bit before heading up to the music room. Hermione had not only missed Draco, she was worried about him. She knew first hand how cruel Slytherins could be with their teasing and didn't think they were capable on holding back on a member of their own house.

Once she was able to set her sight on the gray tapestry that hid the occupied music room on the third floor, her heart rate seemed to pick up speed. She both loved and hated the feeling of anticipation that filled her whenever she was going to meet with Draco. On one hand, it felt like every part of her felt alive, and she knew deep down it was because having a crush on Draco was the simplest thing in her life. It was easy to fancy him.

Hermione had started to get the grasp that life was littered with trials, tests, and tribulations, so to have something that came easy to her was off-putting. Her worst fear though was that she would never get over her feelings if he did not feel the same. Rejection was where her nerves were currently stemming from.

_None of that right now,_ she chastised herself as she drew closer to the music room. _Your day has been decent enough if you forget about Nott. There's no reason to plague your own thoughts with negativity. _After fighting the effects of the tapestry, she couldn't keep the broad smile off of her face at the sight of him sitting at the piano. She didn't say anything upon entering as she stood in the doorway, but she didn't need to. He immediately stopped playing and stood to greet her as she closed the door behind her, the parcel in her hands. "I saved you the apple tart. I thought you'd prefer that to the cauldron cake or treacle fudge Harry and Ron claimed."

The smile that appeared on his face was one of the genuine ones he seemed to reserve only for her. "I love mother's tarts. She picks the fruit from the gardens."

"Makes sense." She breathed. Hermione and Draco hovered for a moment before both became flustered from eyeing each other. It was something that seemed to be happening more often when they were alone together.

Hermione looked down at the parcel as Draco rubbed the back of his neck before he gestured to the pillows and blankets he had arranged for her to lounge in. "Did you want to -"

"Sure!" Her voice was too chipper as she sat down in the nest of bedding material, but he didn't say anything about it. He nearly walked past her to take his original seat at the piano bench, but she tugged on his hand, inviting him to join her. "Get down here and eat with me."

"And sully my finest robes to sit on the floor like a beggar?" Draco sat down next to her, a teasing smile on his face as he settled on to his side, propped up by a single elbow. "Only because you asked nicely."

"And not because it's my birthday?" Hermione opened the parcel and handed him the apple tart. "Does that mean if I ask nicely enough, you'll act like a normal person any day of the week?"

"Absolutely not, I can trace my lineage back to royalty. I'd hate to piss off the wrong ancestor by forgetting how great I'm destined to be."

"Language," she warned as she laughed at his melodramatic reply. Hermione picked up the mini cake. It fit in the palm of her hand and was completely white save for the blueberries and raspberries covered in powdered sugar on the very top. She was about to conjure a spoon for her to use when she caught sight of Draco looking at her cake with a surprised expression. "What?"

"You didn't eat with Potter or Weasley?"

"I ate _dinner_ with them, but I figured they could have dessert with each other." She shrugged a shoulder as if there wasn't a bigger reason behind why she chose to save devouring the sweet with Draco. "Plus we seldom get the chance to eat together while we're here. So why not?"

"I suppose." His reply was distracted as he watched her lift her wand. "_Auri_." With a wave, two forks appeared in midair. She frowned at them before passing him one before digging the fork into her cake. "I meant to conjure spoons but I suppose this isn't terrible for my second attempt at conjuration."

"You wanted a spoon? Why not summon a _dessert_ fork?"

"My parents and I always used spoons on the occasion we ate cake." It was said after a sigh and she could sense Draco stiffen at the mention of her parents. _No, I said this school year would be a normal one where I chose to keep striving for happiness._ After she swallowed her first bite, she gave him a mischievous grin. "And I rather not waste my time eating with a _trident_ when regular silverware works just as well, thank you very much."

Draco knew Hermione was the one who was just egging him on this time, but the inner gentleman within him couldn't help but feel affronted she referred to a dessert fork as a trident. "Keep it up, Princess, I'm warning you."

"Ooooh, I'm so scared."

After mumbling about how lucky she was that it was her birthday, Draco and Hermione fell into silence while they ate. This time, it was comfortable and she found herself feeling more than content - she was happy, although there was a topic she was wanting to address with him. She didn't speak until they both put down their forks and decorative paper the desserts had been placed on.

"Draco?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Do you want to talk about Professor -"

"No." His tone was definite, and he scowled at the empty space between them as he remembered how humiliated he felt to be transfigured into an animal. Hermione pushed her trash away from her and laid on her side, facing him with her hands acting as a pillow, although there were plenty pf cushions around them for her to use.

"It was still wrong what Professor Moody did. I made a complaint to Dumbledore."

Draco's face softened as he looked at her. He didn't think _anyone_ ever went to Dumbledore in his defense - actually, he knew it. He was a bully, one who even made his own house scared of him to earn their respect, so he doubted the Headmaster would have even given a reprimand to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. "You didn't need to. Moody brought me to Professor Snape who took care of the situation."

Hermione had opened her mouth to tell Draco he needed to call Moody by his official title of professor, but let it shut with a snap. Draco was obviously still angered by the situation and she would rather not stir him up over a still sore subject. "What did he do?"

Draco smirked. "Gave Nott detention after sending an owl to my parents. They're sure to be following up with Moody soon."

Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or groan as she rolled on to her back, knowing a probable Buckbeak situation was on the horizon. While Moody was human _and_ at fault, he wasn't a terrible Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He was second only to Lupin – not that the bar had been set high with Lockhart or Quirrell. "You know," Deciding on a change of subject, Hermione let her head loll to the side to look at Draco's face once more, only to catch him giving her _that_ look again – the same one she was aware that she returned. His expression face was serene, but the half lidded eyes were attentive, as if he was hanging on to her every word. His lips were slightly parted and Hermione felt heat rising to her cheeks as she wet her own. "We're almost halfway through our time at Hogwarts."

Draco felt like a moment had passed between them, knowing he had been caught staring at her, but he forced himself to continue the conversation rather than get lost in the day dream he started to have. "That is true." He cleared his throat as he laid down next to her, as the arm he was leaning on was starting to go numb. They both looked up at the ceiling, trying not to get too distracted with the presence of the other.

"What do you want to be once you graduate? O.W.L.S are next year and I don't doubt you'll want to start studying for them – if you haven't already." Draco thought that he had perhaps offended Hermione when her reply wasn't immediate. He turned his head to see she had an intense look on her face. The movement he made must have snapped her out of her train of thought as he didn't miss how her eyes came back into focus when she faced him again.

"Happy. _Truly_ happy." She whispered. If they weren't so close, he would have missed what she said entirely. "I spend so much time thinking about the past, calling out for parents that will never answer, and I really should just..." Her lips pressed together to stop her voice from being too wobbly as she continued. "I should live in the moment more. And I am working on that, but it's really hard and sometimes the fleeting moments of happiness just don't feel like enough." More than once she had caught herself failing to laugh at something Ron or Harry said and she felt odd trying to force herself to get back in the moment for her friends sake. She felt like an impostor in her own skin if she had to force it. She didn't want them to worry about her, and unlike Draco, it usually took a few beats before they caught on when something was amiss. "I dropped the extra classes I was taking after an entire year of hell, thinking that stressing myself academically was how I could make my parents proud of me when I have letters from them stating they would _always_ be proud. I now think they were worried I would do something like hyper focus to the point of barely functioning." Hermione ground her teeth together, telling herself it would be the last time she did so once she stopped herself from crying at the intense word vomit she was experiencing. She rubbed a finger against the scar on her forehead as she finished. "I think they would want me to live in the moment and be happy. If not for them... for myself."

Draco could tell she was speaking from a place he may not have understood, but he made a silent promise that he would try to. "The question would then be, what makes you happy? Is it saving the House Elves? You could dedicate your life to that and let it be your legacy, we have enough gold in our vaults you wouldn't have to worry about procuring a lucrative career." Hermione's eyebrows released the tension they had been holding for her entire rant, grateful Draco was an amazing listener.

"Maybe..." Hermione opened her mouth before quickly biting her bottom lip in thought on if she should continue the genuine conversation, or change the subject entirely. _It would be risky_. "Being surrounded by those I hold closest to me would be enough. Maybe, I should just... be brave and bold." With Parvati's advice giving her the confidence boost she needed, Hermione closed the space between them and crashed her lips on to Draco's.

He tasted like the sour apple that his tart had been based off of and something she could not quite place, but what she did recognize, was that her world seemed to stop. Her overthinking paused as it conceded to the happiness starting to fill her. Kissing was a new experience for her, but that didn't stop her from putting her all in to making the honest effort to connect with him in a way that she not just dreamed of, but feared. Hermione only faintly remembered her mother warning her about building her home in someone else, but she was living in the present – and Draco was starting to become home for her, _it was easy_.

Draco hadn't expected Hermione to make a move _ever_ and he realized it was stupid to think that if she returned her feelings. She wasn't like the other girls he was used to; girls like Daphne or Pansy who tried to embody the meaning of _dainty_ so they didn't make waves in society – not that there was anything wrong with that, he had simply come to realize it wasn't what _he_ wanted. Hermione was assertive when she knew what she wanted and danced to the beat of her own drum. Her politeness was not to be mistaken for weakness. She was abrasive when she wasn't careful and she did not care how long she needed to explain her point of view before someone accepted it. Hermione was everything he wanted to be in his life, she held qualities he hoped to one day possess himself. With each passing day, he found himself wanting to break away from what he knew, to feel like he was his own person, to _breathe._

And that's how he kissed her. She hadn't moved as she was unsure of what to do for the second time that day so when he kissed her back, she let her dominate nature fall to the wayside and let him lead. He kissed her like his lungs needed the air from hers to survive and that her warmth was the only thing that could thaw the cold, tough love he had been raised in. He wrapped one arm around her waist as another settled into the nest of hair situated at the nape of her neck. Draco kissed her until he remembered how selfish of a human being he was and that he thought he would never be enough for her. _I don't deserve her, I don't deserve_ this.

"Hermione," He brought his hands from her back to her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him. "We shouldn't. I don't -" Her eyes fluttered open and alarm flooded her flushed features_._ "I don't see you that way."

The silence that followed his false declaration was violent, as he felt himself being torn apart. He forced his face to look uncomfortable, like he had just put a stop to something they shouldn't have done. It was the opposite of how they both felt a moment ago, as the comfort of each other's presence had always felt right.

"Oh my god," Hermione held both hands up to her face, tears springing to her eyes. She had never been so embarrassed before. "I'm an _idiot_!" Hermione stood. _I can't believe I did that! It was that stupid magazine, I swear! _She wanted to explain all of this to him, but she could hardly look at him, opting to keep her eyes on the floor as she regained control of her breathing.

"Hermione, I'm - I'm sorry." Draco didn't look at her as he spoke either, letting the burning in his throat from apologizing etch the pain of the moment into his memories. He knew his guilt would either double at the sight of her and hedidn't trust himself not to take back his words by kissing her now swollen lips again.

Hermione completely covered her face, wishing she could just disappear. "It was - I'm so stupid -" _He's going to think I'm too weird to be around. He isn't going to see me the same way, I've ruined it all!_

"Stop calling yourself that." Draco couldn't stand to hear her call herself names and he stood up, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, her hands still pressed to her face. "The last thing you are is stupid." _Remember this moment, _he told himself. _She's crying because of me. I'll only keep making her cry if I get any closer to her._ "You'll get over me and you'll find someone loads better who fancies you the way I do."

His words got through to Hermione, just not in the way he had expected them to. She pushed herself away from him with a bit more force than she meant. "Why are you saying that? Why did you even kiss me back?" She swiped at her tears with the back of her hand.

_There's the anger I was waiting for._ "It was just a reaction."

Her face threatened to crumble then, but she didn't allow it to as realization that Draco was intentionally putting space between them dawned on her. "So when you tried to kiss me over the Summer, what was that in reaction to then?" The way he continued to avoid her stare told her everything she needed to and a whimper escaped her lips as her body threatened to force a sob out. "What is it about me then? Am I just undesirable? Am I too much of a know it all? Is it my teeth, my – my - " Her eyes snapped back up to his face, after she had spent several moments searching the floor for answers.

"Don't even go there." He warned, but she didn't listen.

"My blood?" She challenged. "Am _I_ not good enough for you?"

Draco opened his mouth to object, but he hesitated. It _didn't_ matter to him, but he doubted he could bring her home to his parents as someone he was involved in. Lucius had made it clear that Hermione was an exception in _certain_ cases. Draco was raised to only court with marriage in mind and he didn't have enough faith in his parents for it _not_ to be an issue. Draco ran a hand through his hair. He tried to take a step closer to her, but she only took a step back. "I'm quite literally insulted you would even still think that of me," He licked his lips and he could still taste the sweetness of her cake on his lips. He wiped the back of his hand against his lips, not allowing himself to indulge in his want of her. The action only seemed to anger her more. "I fancy you, okay? But I'm the one who isn't good enough."

Hermione shook her head at him, remembering some of her parents last words about the _Phantom of the Opera_ play they had seen the night they were murdered. "It's _my_ decision to decide if you're good enough for me." She walked up to him, and took his hands in hers. His head was in his arse, but she cared enough to help him pull it out, just as he had helped her with her feelings so many times before. "Draco, you've done absolutely nothing -"

"I knew about the World Cup." He panicked as the words flew out of his mouth. Draco had actually made a list of things to say to deter her if they had ever gotten to _this_ point, but his admission of the Quidditch Cup was _very_ low on that list. He didn't know why his brain automatically jumped to saying it, but now that the truth was out, he embellished on it. "Theo told me about it. Him and his dad were in cloaks that night." Even if his parents were in on it, he would never tell Hermione. Not destroying the second parental relationship she was still building was the only kindness he would be able to spare her tonight. "I was simply caught up in the moment -"

She dropped his hands as if they burned her. _Oh, no._ "That's why you wanted to go back to the tent." He only nodded, not bothering to finish what he was going to say. "You knew and you had a plan to keep us out of the way." She put a hand over her mouth that hung open in horror. "That muggle and his family, Draco -"

He didn't forget that detail, but he still winced at the mention of the innocent casualties Lucius had later informed them of. "That wasn't planned and neither was the Dark Mark -"

"BUT IT HAPPENED!" Her hands lit up in flames, something she hadn't let happen in months. _Harry and Ron were right!_ "I can't – I don't believe it."

"Hermione -" _Look at her. Look at what I've done. A person like me could only cause her pain._

"No! Just –" She clutched her head and doubled over. "Get _out_!"

Draco, not sure how to handle a Hermione who had literally burst into flames, ran. His gut painfully churned as he did, knowing she would never see him the same way again. After he reached the stairs, he stopped running and pressed himself against the cool stone of the castle. He tried to regain his composure, but all his brain wanted to do was remember the good times between him and Hermione – the only pleasant memories he was sure to have with the witch now that she would never trust him again.

His self loathing turned into anger at that point and he whirled around to punch the suit of armor that stood guard next to him. "Fuck!" Draco gripped the roots of his blonde hair as the sound of his punch echoed through the hallways. _Why did I bring up the Quidditch cup! What is wrong with me -_"

"Mr Malfoy," Draco straightened up immediately, hearing McGonagall's stern voice. "Would you like to explain why after you shouted an expletive that no one of your age should be repeating, you assaulted school property?"

"No, Ma'am." He ground out through clenched teeth. _The last thing I am going to do is vent about my problems with McGonagall's favorite pupil._

McGonagall pursed her lips and turned so she was facing the stairs. "Very well. Ten points from Slytherin, and to avoid any other damage to the priceless artifacts that are in our school's hallway, I suggest you allow me to escort you back to the Slytherin common room."

Draco didn't say a word as he followed the Scottish witch, his heart sinking with every step as realization started to dawn on how much he actually messed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello, hello everyone! PLEASE do not hate me. I promise they'll be getting together this school year.
> 
> Side note, the next update may be delayed by a week. If I am unable to have the next chapter posted by 11/29, it will for sure be up by 12/6.
> 
> Happy thanksgiving if you all celebrate and welcome new readers!


	44. Hiatus due to Rona

Hey y'all. Sorry for triggering emails, but unfortunately this is not an update for the fic.I just wanted to let everyone know I got diagnosed with Corona Virus and I won't be trying to write until I make a full recovery. 

That may be in two or three weeks, it may not. It's been kicking my arse so far.

Thank you for understanding. Y'all can still inbox me for a chat or pop into one of my other social media accounts if you'd like. I update most regularly on my Facebook group "Starryar Writes

**Author's Note:**

> Please Review :)


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